Where do I belong?

I LOVE quizzes and personality assessments.  I've taken the Myers Brigg, True Colors, the PSI, the animal assessment, the Clifton Strengths Finder, etc. etc... In fact, I've never even passed on the opportunity to take a Glamour Magazine assessment... "What does your lipstick color say about you?" (I know what you're thinking... 7th grade called and they want you back!)

So when a friend of mine posted Time Magazine's newest article, "America's Mood Map" based on the research of Jason Rentfrow at the University of Cambridge--my interest was piqued when I learned a QUIZ could tell me where my temperament fit on a state-by-state ratings of personality.

According to the study, the winners (or losers, depending on how you view these things) were in some cases surprising and in some not at all. The top scorers on extroversion were the ebullient folks of Wisconsin (picture the fans at a Packers game — even a losing Packers game). The lowest score went to the temperamentally snowbound folks of Vermont. Utah is the most agreeable place in the country and Washington, D.C., is the least (gridlock, anyone?).

Take the quiz for yourself to find out which state matches your personality.  http://science.time.com/2013/10/22/the-united-states-of-attitude-an-interactive-guide-to-americas-moods/
Any guesses as to where I match?

The $10,000 Nursery: The DIY Upholstered Drop Cloth Headboard "Pottery Barn Style"

Do yourself a favor-- never, ever step foot in a Pottery Barn Kids store. You'll leave with unnecessary fantasies about oversized stuffed giraffes and searsucker monogrammed throw pillows. While I was browsing, I fell in love with an upholstered headboard and for ONLY $799 it could be all mine. http://www.potterybarn.com/products/raleigh-nailhead-bed-headboard/?cm_src=AutoRel


For literally a 10th of the price, my handy husband was able to make a very similar-style headboard.

Here's how he made it:

First, I measured how tall and long I wanted the headboard to be. For the width of the headboard, it needs to be the entire length of the mattress plus 1/2 inch extra for each side.   I wrote my measurements down and then went to Home Depot and purchased cheap plywood ($8.00) and a drop cloth ($9.99).  Home Depot cut my plywood for me for free using the measurements that I provided.  They will only cut straight lines not curved so you'll have to find someone with a jigsaw to help you cut the rounded lines.

Pace drew two curved lines on the plywood and then used the saw to cut them.

After getting the plywood in the shape we wanted our headboard to be, he attached a thick foam to the plywood (We bought the foam at Michael's when it was on sale for 50% off. I think we bought 3 yards for just under $30. You could probably also use a cheap foam mattress cover).  We read a lot about how to do this, and while many blogs suggested using a spray adhesive to stick the foam to the board, we thought that working with glue could get really messy.  Instead, we opted for our trusty friend... the staple gun. He covered the entire headboard including the edges and top.  We did not want to leave any hard places on the headboard that could potentially endanger a toddler.

Use sharp scissors or an electric knife

Pace folding the thick foam over the plywood

The covered plywood does not have to look perfect at this point.

 After Pace had the foam in place on the plywood, he wrapped batting around the entire thing.  It's important to pull it as tight as possible, and staple it around the back. The batting holds everything down and smoothes it out to give it an even shape. Batting is fairly inexpensive and can be found at most fabric stores usually for about $5/yard.

This is what your headboard should look like covered in foam and batting

Now that everything is in place and ready to be upholstered, it's time to bring in the drop cloth! We chose a drop cloth for my upholstery fabric because it's basically a thick, durable cotton canvas and it was the perfect color. And it was $10 for nearly 5 yards.

Pace cut the drop cloth material to size and wrapped it around the entire headboard, stapling in the back.

(Note: I thought very seriously about monogramming the headboard with a large white monogram.  It would have been relatively easy to do (a shop would have charged $10) but after some thought, I decided to leave it blank.  We may require our future kids to share a room and monogramming the headboard seemed limiting.

Now that the upholstery part of the headboard is done, it's time to affix the nailhead trim. And here's a little secret I've figured out. You can buy nailhead trim by the yard. The nailheads come in an attached strip, and you only have to hammer in every fifth hole. It's so much easier than hammering in a million individual nails, and it keeps them all in a straight line. I know many people prefer the look of individual nailheads, but for me this was such a timesaver! I bought out trim at Michael's using a 50% off coupon (cost: around $9) but Amazon also sells the trim and their site carries more variety: http://www.amazon.com/Dritz-44286-Upholstery-Nailhead-Silver/dp/B0060LDT2Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382153752&sr=8-1&keywords=nailhead+trim.

After a lot of trial and error, Pace figured out that you CANNOT use the nails that come with the kit on the trim--especially if you decide to use thick foam like we did.  Instead, you will need to find nails from Home Depot that fit inside the holes on the trim and use regular nails instead.  This provided us with a very secure and safe trim.

We are very pleased with our headboard--especially since this is our first time making this project.  If you decide to make a DIY headboard, you could experiment with the shape of the headboard (especially if your confident with a jigsaw!) and the type of fabric. 

 So, that's it! Our DIY dropcloth upholstered headboard...so easy and inexpensive! And it looks great in Elizabeth's nursery.

Cost: Around $75    Savings: $724

The Ten Thousand Dollar Nursery

Earlier this week, my friend Bridget posted a rather hilarious link to a blog with a post titled, "Warped Childhood, Restoration Hardware Style".  The blog consists of pictures and one liners like:

For Betsy Romneybilts, life was one long, luxurious dream… until the night the chandelier in the nursery fell.

The post goes on to make fun of our culture for spending gazillions of dollars on baby's nurseries where they essentially only eat, sleep and poop for a couple of years.

As a fiscally conservative individual (....sounds a lot better than saying cheapskate), I agree with this sentiment. However, at the same time, the nursery is really more for the mom than the baby.  From what I hear, I will be spending a LOT of time at all hours of the day in that one little room. I wanted a room that made me feel happy, wasn't overly girly or princess-ey yet was still feminine and sweet. We wanted all of the things that a $10,000 nursery offered--but our budget wasn't even a 10th of that!

Pace and I did a lot of DIY projects, Pintrest and Goodwill-ing to create the ideal space for Elizabeth. Over the next couple of weeks, I will highlight various aspects of her nursery.

"Mom Blogs are Dumb"

When I announced to a friend of mine that I was thinking of starting a blog, her response was to quickly convince me that everything I could possibly blog about was already taken by the millions of other bloggers out there and that coming up with new material may be difficult.  Sure, maybe there are plenty of "Why I love cloth diaper" blogs or "My baby is the cutest baby in the world" blogs but my goal for writing this isn't to be in the new mommy renegade. Our life is quickly changing and evolving and I thought that this blog could be a wonderful way for the people who love us to keep up with what we are doing in St. Louis.  To justify it further, I came up with "The 5 Reasons I Convinced Myself to Start a Blog" list:

1) I love to write. I’ve loved it since I was a child. I am definitely by NO MEANS the world's best writer.  You will likely find sentence fragments, misspelled words and just plain lazy English in my blog posts. However, each post is an exercise in creativity and will give me a chance to get my words out on paper (or the computer, as the case may be).

2) Umm... hellloooo!! I am about to have a baby!  I need a place to upload the gazillions of pictures that I plan on taking and a place to share all of our adventures. A blog seems to be a little more intimate than Facebook.

3) I think blogging will enable or inspire me to learn new things.  In posting what I am passionate about, I will be more inclined to read more about interesting topics or take risks in the kitchen or on home projects (for example: Homemade apple cider caramels sound delicious. Best case scenario, I can post some mouth watering pictures of my kitchen masterpiece   Worst case scenario, I fail miserably but can at least tell you what NOT to do in the kitchen.)

4) I love to make money doing things I love. Up until now I’ve barely dipped my tiny toe into the pool of being an online entrepreneur   I am excited to see if blogging will potentially help me expand my online Ebay store. I can assure you that I will take baby steps in expanding my online store's reach (you won't see any action until after January) but it will be fun to see if I can find more ways to get into the online upscale consignment clothing market.

5) There’s a chance the things I write could make a difference.  As Pace and I genuinely attempt to lead a life that follows the Gospel teachings, we constantly seek out the encouragement of other believers.  My hope is to be an encouragement to my friends and family as I passionately pursue being a Christian mom and wife. Yes, I am sure that there will be days where I fail MISERABLY (please don't hold it against me!) but my hope is that by sharing a glipse at our life and my thoughts I can encourage your faith and your family and that you can do the same for me!  I read this quote and think it applies to my thoughts on blogging:

We are writing each day a letter to men;
Take care that the writing is true;
It is the only gospel some men will read--
The gospel according to you.
{Unknown}

This refers to how our actions "speak" our gospel to others. But being interested in writing, I've always applied it to my actual writing--the Gospel according to me. And blogging is an opportunity to share that. And, hopefully, an opportunity to "stir up love and good works" {Hebrews 10:24} or perhaps an on-line attempt to "comfort each other and edify one another" {1 Thessalonians 5:11}.