My Photo Wall

I wish I could claim this idea as my own... but like all the good projects I have, I stole this from Pinterest, but I put my own little spin on it. I wanted something to put on this big space of empty wall in my living/dining/play room area, and just a few frames was not going to cut it. This is also something I have wanted to do for a long time, but there was a certain "party" that was against the idea and thought it would look bad, and since certain "party" is no longer a counted vote, I get to do what I want! I then considered a giant mirror on the wall to make the room bigger, and add some light, but again, I was looking for something with a little more personality. (disclaimer: this project required 2 trips to Hobby Lobby, not that I am complaining, because JoAnns, and Pat Catans just did not have the cute shape that Hobby Lobby did). The pin that I got this idea from, had you Mod Podging the pics to the wood, but I didn't want to ruin pictures, and I wanted to be able to swap out pictures as Little Spooner and I had more adventures, or my Little Man, nephew, (who is also featured on this wall) grows bigger.

Here are my supplies for this project:

Various Shapes and sizes of wooden plaques from hobby Lobby (the most I paid for 1 plaque was $2.99, the little plaques were like $1.79), and I used 3 different colors of Spray Paint (clearly), Tacky Glue (already had, but its like $.99 at Pat Catans), 3M Command strips (Velcro-y kind- maybe around $8 a pack, and I bought 2, this also helps me avoid having to fill so many holes when I move out), 4x6 ($1.96) & 3x5 ($1.29) Magnetic Photo Frames from Walmart (I do not remember the exact price on these, but they were really cheap)

I started by spray painting the plaques. They each required only 2 coats of paint. Make sure you let them dry completely before the next step. This took a lot of patience on my part, because I was so excited to get these up on the wall. After they are completely dry, take the magnetic frames and peel the magnets off of them. Spread some tacky glue on the back of them and center them on the plaques. My photos are far from centered, let alone level, on my plaques, but again, it is because I am far from a perfectionist, and I really just wanted them to be completed! :) You MUST let the plaque with the frames glued on lay flat for a good 6 hours (or however long it takes for the glue to COMPLETELY DRY). If not, you will have frames falling all over the place, and potential for Tacky Glue all over the carpet (I have learned from experience, again, I am VERY impatient). After this, place your 3M command strips on the back of the plaques (larger plaques required 2 strips, while the smaller ones I just used 1 strip). Then you are ready to stick them up on the wall! I am really pleased with how this turned out. On the 3 plaques that do not have photos on them, I am going to be printing some of my favorite quotes, or scriptures, song lyrics, and Mod Podging those to them (that was my own personal idea). :) Pin That!



The view from my hallway. I could have made this MUCH larger, and I have left myself plenty of room to add on if need be. If you knew me in high school, you know that I had a LARGE collage of magazine clippings that almost wrapped around my entire room. I can see this getting a little out of control, BUT if you are going to go big, you need to do this REAL big, and like fill the whole wall, because that would be super cute. But keeping it small like this is good too. If it was in the middle it just would not be the same.

There is plenty of room to expand this as needed. Which I am sure one day I will do. That would require more trips to Hobby Lobby, which I am TOTALLY ok with... If you are reading this Hobby Lobby CEO, PLEASE put a Hobby Lobby in Westlake/Rocky River/North Olmsted/Avon area! Medina/Brunswick is kind of a far trip for crafting supplies!- Mommy Spooner

Letter for My Mom

 

There were no cards this year that could express everything I wanted to say to you on this Mother’s Day.

The past year has had a lot of ups and downs. At first I just saw it as a lot more downs than ups. I thought for sure there was no coming back from where I was. As time has gone by, I am realizing that since last summer, it has really been nothing but UP. With your help, I have become this strong woman, and mother, that I never thought I could be. I have become “happy” again, and I feel more like myself than I have in a long, long time.

When I first became a Mom, I thought it was pretty easy. Looking back, taking care of Ashtyn as a baby was so easy (I know I was incredibly lucky to have an incredibly easy baby). She hardly ever fussed, was a great eater and sleeper. But when she was a baby it was easy to predict her every need, to keep her happy.

As Ashtyn grows bigger, and grows into this little person, I find myself asking the question “what did my mom do?”, or “How did my mom do this for me?”, or “what would my mom do?”. There is just so much more she needs. She needs to play, and learn, and grow. She needs interaction. There are times I feel so clueless, and then I will remember something that you did for us when we were little, or how you did something and it makes it easier. A lot of people say they want to do things differently than their parents did, but I wouldn’t want to change a thing. You sheltered us, but also exposed us to real life experiences. You let us get dirty, and make our own mistakes, while helping us clean up the mess along the way.

Now more than ever, I want to be the Mom you were to me, to Ashtyn. I want to make sure she is learning everything she needs, while feeling like she has a mom who is there for her, and has time for her. I want to be a Mom/Woman, and eventually friend, that she can look up to, respect, and appreciate as much as I do you.

I can only hope that one day Ashtyn will look at me, and see the years of love I have given her, and appreciate all I have done for her. More so, I hope she looks at me, and feels the way I do about you. Because you (and Dad as well, but this is a Mother’s Day letter) have really shown me nothing but unconditional love, through everything. You (and Dad) were a kid yourself, and you were able to raise 3 amazing (if I do say so myself), behaved, well rounded, God loving children. If I can raise 1 child half as well as you raised 3, I consider that a win.

I love you Mom, and I know you know that. I am so happy to say not only that you are my Mom, but you are my best friend.

- Mommy Spooner

Bedroom "re-do"

 

I am contemplating giving my sleeping space a MUCH needed face lift. Currently my boudoir is a hot mess of clothes strewn about, and one giant elephant in the room that needs to be removed... a big dresser that I love, and would love to use as a "foot board" if my room was way bigger, but alas it is not. I have a large closet that houses a majority of my clothes and one smaller, tall-ish dresser in the corner. What I am really debating when I say "face-lift" is new bedding. I want to have an inviting bed, that beckons me when I come home from work so late at night. While I used to be obsessed with my comforter (it was an $80 comforter with $50 sheets from target, that I purchased for $40 total!), it just isn't doing it for m anymore. I want something cute, clean, bright, and relaxing (are you picking up with I'm putting down?).  If you forget what my headboard looks like here is a link to that...

Here are my current color choices...

 

#1: Aqua, Teal, Yellow and Grey.. (not going to lie, this is my favorite, and I might just do this, but I'd enjoy feedback, if any of you are interior designers and have some suggestions, PLEASE throw them my way!)

#2: Coral, Aqua/Teal, Grey, White. I am not such a fan of the "pineapple" light, but I like the pop the coral gives the blue.

Also taking suggestions if you have other color schemes that might work. This weekend I am going to pull the trigger on this project. I'm pretty excited!!!  Photo's to follow once completed!

Taking referrals for big strong men who can come move a VERY large and heavy dresser from my room to the basement of my home... Ladies, want your man out of the house for a few minutes I have that to be moved and yard work to be completed... :) Send them on over. I will even feed them lunch!

Thanks in advance!- Mommy Spooner

First Big Step

So as you can gather, a few posts back I decided to take back my body. I am no longer making excuses for MY poor decisions, and I am going to refuse to let "Mommy Guilt" get the best of me anymore. I find that I am VERY motivated by financials. If I am paying a lot of money for something I am going to make sure that I use it to it's full benefit. About 7 or 8 years ago I paid a LOT of money for a personal trainer at Bally Fitness, and I had EXCELLENT results from that, because I refused to miss a training because then I wouldn't get it back if I cancelled it. My plan has required me to invest a little bit of money at this time, but hopefully down the road I will reap what I am sowing in confidence, healthier lifestyle, and financially as well (who doesn't love the opportunity to make a little bit of extra cash on the side). When I tell you a little bit of money invested, what it boils down to is about $3/day for the shakemix (I spend more than that on SBUX almost daily)

Mortified to be sharing this picture, but you have to start somewhere, and hopefully in 30 days there will be a DRASTIC change in what you see.

Sooo, to get me started I have signed up as a Beachbody Coach, thanks to my wonderful friend Kelly Omalley for her guidance. While at this current moment I am certainly not the billboard for healthy living I hope to change all of that very soon! I am going to be pairing up Beachbody's Shakeology Greenberry mix, along with the Insanity DVDs (thanks to one of my besties), along with continuing my couch to 5k training. I have bravely posted a before picture of myself to my Beachbody Coach Website, along with some other information about myself that I am going to be using to track my progress. There are SEVERAL people who I work with that use Beachbody products, and their progress with the products is enough proof for me that it truly works. It seems like a huge network of people going through the same journey, all with the same goals in mind (accountability- my #1 need one a journey like this).

I am looking forward to the new journey I am embarking on. Hopefully I can inspire a few people with the changes I am making.

Hopefully stuff will be here by Monday- Mommy Spooner

 

Baby Snuggler

Do these not scream "I want to sleep through the night"??

These cozy looking Baby Snugglers are a project I took on for a friend who is having a baby. I had to wait 2 weeks to post this though because I finished them 2 weeks prior to her shower (this was VERY difficult to keep a secret). I know what you are thinking, "wow that's being on the ball, and very much not like Jessica". I concur.  Surprisingly these were much easier to make than I first thought they would be. I purchased the book below about 9 months ago, with the aspirations of making Little Spooner and my nephew lots of amazing cute things... and then 8 months ago life happened and all of those aspirations were side tracked.

Simple Sewing for Baby- Lotta Jandotter

When I found out this friend was having a baby boy I knew I had to make something incredibly useful.  The one item I always tell new parents-to-be about is the swaddler (and the amazing Boon spoon- which I am not sure if they make anymore, but they make a spoon attachment for the plum baby food packets- GENIUS). I had things like this when Little Spooner was a baby, and I attribute her sleeping through the night so early mainly because of these. She loved the comfort of being swaddled, and they kept her nice and warm.

 

So to make these bad boys you don't need a whole lot of supplies...

1 yard of a cotton or flannel fabric (I used flannel)

1 yard of micro fleece for the inside (or you can use 2 yards of the lighter fabric)

1 spool matching thread

Straight Pins

1 yard of Velcro (you won't use all of it- 1 yard was enough for both of these)

A sewing machine (thanks to Muh for lending me hers)

scissors (duh)

 

The book provides all of the patterns you need to measure and cut. Along with all the directions. Each one of these only took about an hour. The first one maybe an hour and 15 minutes. Once I finished the first one I had a way to make the second one faster and without all the holdups of the first one. I would take you through step-by-step like a good blogger would, but unfortunately I was so wrapped up in making these I forgot to take pictures of the process. :) Here are some more pics of the finished products though. When I make more, which I am sure I will be, I will be sure to track my progress.

I'm sure I have made my grandmother happy with my love for sewing.

Happy sewing -Mommy Spooner

 





Baby Blues

I'm not sure where this post is coming from. I think I'm feeling a little sad this morning. Little Spooner had her first "big girl" swim lesson this morning. At first it felt good because she kept saying she wanted mommy in the water with her, but that was in the car. Once we got there and she saw all the other kids and her previous teacher Miss Ruth, she was gone, and didn't want me anymore.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how grown up Little Spooner is getting. This afternoon, and over the course of the next week, her Dad and I will be checking out multiple pre-schools for this fall. It's seems like the natural progression, but when I uttered "she will be 4 in September" on the phone, I was in complete disbelief. Where has all that time gone? I also can't help but think about "my plan" for my life. According to "my plan" I would have had another baby by now...

Thank God that "his plan" for my life supersedes any plan that I might have made, I can't even imagine going through what I went through this past summer being pregnant, or having an infant. Every time I get sad about wanting a baby right now, which is often, I just have to keep reminding myself that His plan for my life is waay better than any plan I could come up with.

Swim lessons are over, and Little Spooner did amazing.- Mommy Spooner

Carrot Cake Cheesecake

Carrot Cake Cheesecake Recipe

 

This is not my first (or even second for that matter) attempt at some form of Cheesecake. The only other kind of cheesecake I have ever attempted is a Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake and that has been successfully made twice! This year for Easter dessert I tried my hand at my favorite from The Cheesecake Factory. It did not disappoint. The only thing I omitted was the coconut, and that was out of pure laziness of not wanting to run back out to the store. Even without it, it was AMAZING.  I even surprise myself sometimes. 

 

The recipe I followed was from a blog called "Sifting Focus". A very cute name I must say, but I actually found it on Pinterest, and the pin lead me to her blog. This process begins by making the cheesecake part and keeping it in a bowl. Than, you make the carrot cake batter. Grease up a 9" springform pan, pour about a cup and a half of the cake batter in the bottom of the pan and spread it around evenly. Than plop heaping spoonfuls of the cheesecake batter throughout. Then repeat with heaping spoonfuls of carrot cake batter. DO NOT swirl them together. Top with cheesecake batter and spread it around. Then you bake it. Once it is baked through and cooled, you can frost it with the AMAZING Pineapple Cream Cheese frosting that comes with the recipe... SOO GOOD. This was a huge hit with the fam, VERY close to the real deal.

--Mommy Spooner--