DIY:: Home Updates

As you know, we live in an old house. Which makes quick fixes that normal homeowners take care of on a Sunday afternoon, giant ordeals to us that have to wait till I have summer break. 

Take this minor hole from an old towel rack that had fallen out of the wall.  Just get a quick wall patch kit and fix it right up you say? What you can't see from the picture is these walls are plaster. So when I used the good ol' patch kit, it left me with a bumpy mess!

YUCK! The patch just wouldn't lay flat. I pulled it down and repatched with just plaster the second time.....slightly better

But now the problem is, I don't have the paint to cover it up, so I have to repaint the whole bathroom now. Another project for another day.

What I did paint on the other hand was Wesley's bedroom dresser. The white drawers where looking a little grimy, so I did a quick coat of rose pink and ta da!

This project went much smoother.

And finally we installed a new dining room light. I have never really liked the chandelier in the dining room, but it's not that offensive so it's taken me 4 years to replace it.

This is the best picture I could find of it, because I (of course) forgot to take pics before I took it down.

Like I said, nothing really wrong with it, just not my favorite. And we have gone pretty vintage in the dining room, with an art deco buffet, several mid century modern serving pieces and a early twentieth century piano. So the modern light fixture just didn't fit in.

Luckily I found a light I did like at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for just $7! I figured it was worth the risk for that price!

Here's Matt installing it in his work clothes because I had started installing it 10 minutes before he came home, thinking it would only take me 10 minutes....not so much. Nothing in our house takes 10 minutes.

All in!

Closer look

Detail 

So this is only 3 projects done (ish) from a list of at least 14! Some being as small as replacing dead outlets, some as big as wanting to knock down a wall in our kitchen. I have just run out of summer, and run out of will power to get in over my head.

What do you think? Any hints on how to get better at "This Old House"? Maybe don't start projects at 5:50pm? Hire professionals?

In case you missed it:: Wesley got a haircut

So this happened back on June 11th, so I'm officially a month behind on blogging. But I still wanted to post about it for our memories. 

Wesley started begging for a haircut at the beginning of June but as someone that is way too emotionally attached to her hair, I kept putting her off. I love her long hair. And I know the feeling when you want a change but then when it's all gone your sad and I didn't want to deal with that for her. But she persisted. And finally I said yes.

I mean if we were going to do it this was the best possible time, before it got really hot, before we went to the beach and in time for it to grow back for school pictures in the fall if it was awful (J/K, kinda).

So here she is getting ready for the big cut at Mrs. Jen's!

First cut! She looks like she regrets it already, but I swear she was never sad for a moment. We were just so serious about her being still I think she got nervous.

All done! That is one excited little girl, who LOVED her haircut immediately.

Have to admit, when she woke up the next morning and it perfectly feel into place with now tangle battles, Mommy started to love it too!

Brancis, MO:: Final Round-Up

Our last night in Branson we went to a show. But first we had to grab some dinner. Being on the laid back, country tour that we were on means we landed at Cracker Barrel. One of my guilty favorites. While we waited Wes and I checked out the Old Country Store.

She did this by herself, even 4 year olds catch trends. 

I think she has talent y'all, there is a future in accordions

After dinner we went to see Hamner Barber's Variety and Magic Show. It was cheesy and awesome. I laughed the whole way through, but no pictures allowed so you'll have to take my word on that.

One quick story that happened because of the show. At the the end they did a beautiful tribute to Veterans since it was Memorial Weekend. The tribute included footage from an interview with WWII survivors, along with pictures of them going off to war as teenagers. It was very moving and several adults teared up, but I didn't think Wesley understood any of it, until I looked down to find her silently crying while flags bellowed and a life size statue of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima magically appeared out of thin air on the stage.

I picked her up and asked her if she was all right and she said she was but she needed to have a serious talk with me as soon as we got out of there. So we made it to the car and I asked again, nope she wanted to tell me when we got "home" it was very serious and everyone had to be "sitting down and paying attention."Direct quote. So we got back to the hotel and I asked again. She had to make sure Mom and I were sitting still and looking directly at her and then she said "Remember that show were they talked about soliders." ME: "Uh, the one we left 5 minures ago?"Wee: "Yes, well this is very serious...{tears up}...it's just that...{more tears}....they were so...so...OLD! {melts into tears}." Mom and I literally had to hold our faces at this point. Wee: "I was trying hard to care about them, but they were so old, and I wanted them to be like they were before in their pictures." I cannot make this stuff up y'all. Hilarious. We explained that everyone grows older and we need to care for everyone no matter their age. Wow Mom.

The next day we just wanted to take a quick drive down "the strip" to get the full experience of Branson, then head on back to Memphis. I'm sure glad we did or we would have missed this giant statue of President Reagan's head! I know all my friend's love to tease me for being a card carrying Democrat, but in all seriousness, I'm actually just patriotic and want good, strong, honest, smart leaders leading our country, so I was happy to pose with one of our nation's presidents, so there. 

Our drive landed us at the outlet mall, how fortuitous! Wesley didn't last long in the stores, but they did conveniently place these cooky rides around every corner.

Please notice the foam visor with stick on embellishments and crossover glitter purse.

After "stores and stores and stores"-Wesley, we finally started the long trek home. The drive was long but gorgeous. The Ozarks are just another reminder of God's glory and power. I really enjoyed the scenic route, even though it went by quite slow--- up and down so many mountains. 

"The Hills are Alive....With the Sound of Music!"

Me and My girl! The picture is awful because it was on the side of the highway and raining, but I needed this shot!

So that finally wraps up the Branson trip, one month after the fact. It was a great one, and I loved doing it with all three generations of Larson girls this time! Very special. Can't wait till next year!

Diary of a Bad Runner:: Improvement and Setback

My last runner entry was full of high hopes to improve pace and finish a four miler. Here's the update on that.

I did successfully finish Zoom thru the Zoo with an official time of 48 minutes but my Runkeeper tracked it at 45, so we'll go with that and blame the 3 minute deficit on the starting line crowd. Either way I proved to myself I could run for 45 minutes straight and that was a big confidence booster in the way of training.

As far as improving my pace I have kinda gone in the opposite direction and it is totally working for me. I've still been training with Gipis ( I discussed in my last entry) that I cannot recommend it highly enough to anyone running out there. There are countless running apps and programs out there but this one didn't just give me a set training plan, or just pace me as I trained. This app takes you where you are and factors in where you are trying to get to and makes up a plan just for you. It is straight up a personal running trainer on your phone.

So far in my training I am up to running 1:10 at a 12:00 min pace.  So I have almost made it to 6 miles. My program has me finishing a 2:11, with a 10:03 pace so obviously I have some work to do but I'm pretty excited that I went from feeling like I couldn't go on after 3 miles, to sailing through 5 and feeling fine now. The key is to worry more about how long I run instead of how far, for now. Which is something I knew all along, but still couldn't help but want to push.

The small set back is that I had some outpatient surgery last week and I am not suppose to run at all for two-four weeks depending on how I feel. This really stinks because I was making some great progress, but also totally worth it as it has to do with some good ol' family planning and we definitely want that in the near future. So the surgery did not need to be put off.

So here I am just sitting and dreaming of running like a nerd. Hope your summers are going well!

Anybody else training? What has been the biggest help? Ever had to power through an injury?

Brancis, MO:: Bears in Nature

A big part of our road trip was spent enjoying the great outdoors. One of the greatest gifts my mom ever gave me was an appreciation of God's creation. There is just so much beauty in nature. So of course when we spotted this little waterfall at the Arkansas-Missouri border we had to stop and take it in.

On day two of our trip we hit up Branson Landing. It's a great outdoor shopping center right on a lake. It's anchored with Bass Pro Shop where my little model had to pose witha grizzly bear, because we love all Grizz.

Then we went to build a bear and she picked out her on bear to love and cuddle. 

Adding a kiss to her heart

Now getting the heart nice and warm

Putting the heart in

Giving her a " bath"

All done! Posing with Gamma

 Next we took a trip on "The Ducks" these are those touristy things that start out as a truck on land then they drive into the water and it becomes a boat tour. Super fun.

Wes getting ready to eat her duck on the Duck.

Waking up after a quick nap,  surprisingly a tour of downtown Branson did not hold her attention.

Woke up just in time to get to drive the boat! 

Getting a little over confident, captain had to step in

Now a licensed Duck Boat Captain!

As you can see the second day was a blast. Relaxing, tousity, natury, just ducky!

Brancis, MO:: Antique Roadshow

Our first out of school excursion was a quick trip to Branson, MO. Which Wesley pronounces "Brancis." We had a great time. We had very few plans just get on the road, catch a show and do some shopping and that about sums it up.

On the way up there we took our time. Stopping every time something looked interesting, like antique shops, diners and picturesque parks. Here are few finds from our stops.

A silver lade to replace the glass one I broke

Sweet mid century pilsners

Mid Century Condiment Server

Vintage Footstool with Storage!

I spent a grand total of $43 on all of it! Super score. So obviously I know have the bug. After I wrap up the trip posts, I do one on my new Mid Century Modern bedroom redo!