A Quick Pantry Door Project

Wow!  It's been over a week since I have posted anything over here at The Teleporting Toddler!  The Roden house has been crazy busy and sick...again, which leaves me with lots to blog about, but little time to actually sit down to blog it.  
Here is a quick project I did with our pantry door...
Our pantry door is the landing place for all the kids' artwork.  I have had a bulletin board on it for the past couple of years, but it always seems to be so cluttered...I hate clutter...shocker...I know!  

I have thought about adding another bulletin board, but I think that will just create more clutter.  So while browsing the aisles of my happy place...Target...I decided to hang up some cork board.
I just purchased a package of the square cork board and some 3M Command adhesive tape.

All of our doors in the house have a decorative inset.  To accommodate that and not cover it up, I traced the outline of it with tracing paper.

For once I was very lucky in a decorating/organizing project and discovered that the cork board squares were the exact size of my inset.  So I just attached them to the door with the adhesive tape, and trimmed the top one to match the curve in the inset.

Tada!  A new cork board pantry door.  We have much more room for artwork now.  I think having just the cork hung and not a whole bulletin board gives it a less cluttered look.

Now if I can just figure out how to reduce the clutter of viruses running through my house at the moment...

Happy Valentine's Day to My Heart's Desire

"Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desire."  Psalm 37:4
About two weeks before I met you I received this message in a fortune cookie...
"The love of your life will appear in front of you unexpectedly!"
Like everyone else, I enjoy a good fortune cookie, but I rarely save those tiny pieces of paper.  If I do save them, I usually lose them about 5 minutes later.  Ironically at this time in my life I was completely down on love and dating; so this fortune made me chuckle...sarcastically chuckle.  As I put it in my wallet, I thought..."right, we'll see."
Then several days later, I was rushing up the sidewalk of the Dallas Museum of Art to meet a blind date.  A blind date that I really DID NOT want to meet, but thought..."what the heck, surely this one couldn't be any worse than the last."
In that moment, that instant that we said hello...I knew.  Yes, it's true.  I knew.  I never believed in love at first sight.  It always sounded hokey...until it happened to me.  In the briefest moment of time, I realized that this man that stood in front of me was all I ever wanted.  All I never knew I desired, until that moment.  Suddenly God revealed to me those deep desires of my heart, and He plopped them right in front of me on that cold December afternoon.

So I keep that tiny little fortune on my desk not only to remind me of the moment I met you, but also how suddenly everything I ever dreamed of came to be...in one moment...the moment I met you.  Jeremy, you are truly my heart's desire.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Bye-Bye Dining Room

Jer and I have been dreaming of a new house.  
We love our neighborhood, but it is too far out.  For the past several months I have been neglecting some projects, organization, and redecorating.  I have been saying to myself...in our new house...I will do...this or that.  I have been so preoccupied with creating this new perfect house in my imagination that I have fallen a little out of love with my current home.
Well the fact is, we aren't going to move anytime soon, and I need to tackle these projects, and fall back in love with my house.  It is a beautiful home.  No reason for me not to love it.  There actually is a plenty of room for the kids to play and roam.  The space just needs to be used more wisely.
The first item of business is the dining room.  (Big sigh) I {heart} my dining room.

I love the color, my wall art, and my dining table that I got for a STEAL at the Barn years ago.  I especially love and treasure my Granny's mission bookcase.  Its from 1916 and still has the original glass.  How it survived me and my siblings, I will never understand.

I really didn't want to part with any of it, and frankly I wasn't going to.  But Jer and I needed an office.  The dining room is used maybe 3 to 4 times a year for Thanksgiving and birthdays.  It just isn't a wise use of space.  After a little pep talk, I convinced myself it was the right thing to do...say good-bye to my dining room.
So some rearranging commenced.

We moved some shelves and an existing desk from upstairs.

Some items were repurposed.

Granny's bookcase is now used has an actual bookcase.  The dining room table became my desk, and the chairs were put in storage to pull out when we entertain.

Now, Jer and I have an actual office.  

I thought I would hate it, but I kind of love it.  Jer is over the moon to have his own space.  That alone makes the 525 trips up and down the stairs completely worth it.  

A Rare Event

Another snowy day.  We're going on Day 4 of this winter storm, and the snow is still falling at my house.  It is actually starting to come down harder as I type.

There haven't been many times in my life that I could look out my office window and see this view.  I can count them on one hand.

This winter weather has caused the city to come to a screeching halt.  Schools closed, universities closed, businesses closed...you name it and it is probably closed.  I had already had plans to work from home this week.  There was a hiccup in my schedule which meant juggling the boys and the office for a week. 

This unusual event didn't throw off my plans too much.

Yes, I am going nuts like most moms who have been stuck inside with their darlings all week.  Little ones need to roam, run, play.  They need to burn off that youthful energy that we would like to bottle and save.  Several inches of ice and snow and below freezing temps make that difficult to do with toddlers.  

My nerves are wearing thin...

But as I think about the rarity of this storm, I realize it is just as rare that I get to enjoy an entire week in the presence of my little ones.  Most days I yearn to be home with them, but can't.  Many weeks I anticipate the weekend knowing I get to enjoy time with them....just time.  I am always searching for time...more time.

I am not going to lie.  There are many days I am so very happy that I get to jump in my car and get away for the day...even if it is just to the office.  There are weekends that I dream of childless vacations to all those un-family-friendly destinations.  Hey, I am normal!

But today I am going to soak up this rare event.  I am going to enjoy the snow, even though I despise the cold.  I am going to enjoy this blessing of time.

Snow Day

More like ice day.  This is the view from my front door.  I won't be venturing out any further than that today.  What you see is about an inch of snow on top of an inch of ice.  In Texas that means all schools and many businesses are closed for the day.  For the Rodens that means we are going to snuggle up and enjoy our time together.

Dollar Store Decorating-Valentine's Day Version

I really hadn't planned on doing much decorating for Valentine's Day...HA...clearly I am obsessed.  Once I started posting my projects,  questions started coming in asking when I was posting my Dollar Store decorating for Valentine's Day.  I kept it really simple this time...

I purchased:  red doilies, heart table scatter, plastic heart boxes, cardboard heart boxes, and conversation heart candy.

I used the white tulle ribbon, white card stock, candles, and candle holders from my stash.

With this I made a simple heart garland and a cute table decoration.

For the garland...

I simply stapled the red doilies to the white tulle ribbon.

Cut out hearts from the white card stock and attached them to the doilies with a glue stick.

Attached the heart table scatter to the white hearts with craft glue.

And hung it on the stairs.

For the table decoration...

I filled the candle holders with the conversation heart candy.  I basically just repeated my candy corn idea.  I filled the cardboard hearts with the candy also, and arranged it all in the center of the table.  Now if I can keep my little people from swiping the candy!  I guess it is time to start the rumor that the candy is covered in glue.

These two projects were super easy and dollar store cheap!