curtains for the noncommittal

So Ila hasn't been napping well in the afternoons for a while now. Sometimes she does, but often she does not nap and just plays even when she's super tired.

My new strategy was to finally put up curtains in her room. I have avoided putting curtains anywhere in the house because we are renting and are living here relatively short term. But today I realized that it is quite possible put up curtains in a noncommittal fashion.

It involves random fabric (that my mom was dejunking last year and I stole) and clothespins. Luckily there was already a curtain rod attached above the windows, making it even easier.

(Do you see that cantilevered table off to the side? It was my *brilliant* use of an old ikea shelfboard that is wedged under the wood bar/changing pad.)

I like it. I think the clothespins are an especially nice touch too. So many boring curtains out there. What's wrong with a fraying edge anyway?  And then when we move, I can just fold them up and put them away and they are not fitted to a specific size window that we may never have again.

This solution may bother many of you who are decorator savvy. Women would often ask me what colors I was going to use in the baby room. My answer--don't know, don't care!  Ila's room currently features a lovely generic blue carpet that is in every other room in the house. And there are the two green matted pictures of gardens on the wall that you can see in the first picture (which used to be in  my room when I was young). And hidden on another wall is a purple flower arch my mom made that also used to be in my room. Also featured is my hope chest with a yellow tablecloth on top, barely visible in the second picture there. And then the rest of the furniture is white. And now I have lavender, denim, and blue/black checkered curtains. If only I had some orange or fuchsia to finish it off.

Ila's bathroom talents

Ila likes to brush her teeth...

And read on the potty:)

new crafty self

Lately I have had the strangest thing happen to me. I actually wanted to do a craft project. And then DID it! Wow. I may faint in shock at myself.

This is truly remarkable. I have purchased all our christmas stockings, thinking I would never in my life want to make one. When Ila wears her R2D2 winter hat, everyone asks me if I made it. NOT a chance in PROVO! Instead I bought it on etsy. While I am still of the NOT-a-chance variety when it comes to the R2D2 hat, I am now thinking maybe I should decorate the plain christmas stockings I bought someday. But these are side thoughts.

I recently made a blanket for a friend's baby shower gift. (Sam Hall, to be precise:) She is registered at target. My thinking went like this: I don't want to drive all the way to target. I'd rather drive to the fabric store since it's closer and make a blanket. (Let us not discuss how the total sum of time involved is skewed in the direction of fabric store. I did say it was "the strangest thing" after all.)

And here it is! The first blanket I ever made. Using this tutorial and 1 3/4 yard of fleece each side. (which turned out to be pretty big. Another friend made me a blanket just like this, though smaller and more baby size, which I think she must have used 1 yard. I have already purchased more fabric to make this again for another baby shower gift, and got 1 yard this time.)

And there's more. I've been looking into DIY clothing sewing projects. SHOCKING. And I might even try to crochet. (Don't pass out mom.) And maybe I'll even start making that quilt that I have had the fabric for the last 15 years. (Although that is still far out there.)

Maybe this is a phase that I will come out of next week. But maybe it is here to stay. We shall see.

song

Sometimes I just get really enamored of a song. My latest is Leon Redbone's My Walkin Stick.

Hope you like it.