Wee Wonderfuls

new art cart

I've envied my brilliant friend Carol's rolling art cart (hers is a thrifted drink cart I think) for a long time. I tried to get by with a tiny little 6 x 20 three shelf piece of garbage I got at the hardware store but it was a joke - spewing paper and crayon bits all over the floor. So while at Ikea we picked up this dealy bob.. the antonius, for $4! plus 2.50 for shelves and maybe $2 for the wheels. We are ready to go. I love this solution because I can never guess where the kids are going to want to do projects, living room floor, dining room table, their bedrooms. This way they can roll all their supplies wherever they need to go!

4 cans of zinsser and 1 can of cottonball white

We have a new bright and happy family room at the Lang household. It's all of our favorite things together, Ikea showroom meets garage sale treasures.

Here's the Expedit entertainment center filled with our ginormous tv and as much vintage fisher price as I could squeeze in there.

butcher? candlestick maker?

reference library

the reason why we need the giant entertainment center, behind it is hidden a very bothersome unused door

on the other side, our new little sofa

the klippan in a navestad slipcover which is yes! an intarsia print! how crafty cute is that?!

the kids are so happy to have their room back!

Here's How and When

Things are really chugging along here in organization land. I think the rest of the family is ready to be done with my sort and discard craze but it feels sooo good to finally go through stuff. It's addictive. I've been through all our clothes, the kids clothes, the kids toys, started on the basement and have gotten a good jump on the craft room. The wood paneled family room is now cottonball white and so beautiful we're kicking ourselves for not doing it 3 years earlier. And Phoebe's on day 3 of her big girl bed and her room transformation is in progress. Thanks so much for all the great advice! We're going to do a wall of shelves (I'm thinking the billy from ikea), a little desk and chairs, a mirror hung low for dress up/pretend, her chair rail moved down low for hanging dress up clothes and bags, a dresser in the closet and one of those coolio booksleeve contraptions. These are the plans. Hopefully I'll have show and tell pics soon.

In the meantime, a cute book I found while looking for furniture.

phoebe's room

Phoebe wakes up every morning saying "Hi Mom, I missed you" (how sweet is that?!) and then "I wanna big girl room". So, as much as it breaks my heart to change her sweet nursery, I think it's time.

I've had to give up on a lot of the ideas I'd originally had for her big girl room because we have a serious lack of space/storage issue in her tiny bedroom. I wanted a sweet little wooden poster bed but actually this bed we have in the craft room with the storage drawers underneath is a much more sensible choice. I'll be losing a comfy place to hang in the sewing room but honestly it looks more like this most days anyway.

Other than the bed choice I'm not having much luck planning this room. I can't decide what toys need to be out for playing, what clutter should be put away, etc. I guess I'm looking at bins or shelves for her toys and books and then some type of dresser (although I am considering putting her clothes in those underbed drawers). Anybody have any good organizing ideas/tips for me? Any cute girl rooms I need to look at? What part of your girls' rooms do they love the most? If their room is tiny, that is. We have no space for forts or canopies, no alcoves or closets under stairs unfortunately, just a square 10 x 10 room.

slacker

I'm embarrassed to admit this.. I haven't been to one garage sale yet this season. I have excuses -- rain, soccer, etc -- but really I've just be so disappointed in garage sales out here that I barely have the energy to try. Luckily my sister is still on the chase and she'll pick up the things for me that seem "hillary" to her. Thanks KT!

I love these two!Reminds me of my two (on a good day).

not so fast buddy

I'm relatively new to gardening. We started the first garden I've ever had when we moved into this house three years ago. It's crazy how much there is to learn about gardening. The first two years we spent buying, planting and then yanking out.. over and over and over. This year things came in well and looked pretty so we haven't yanked anything. Now what I'm trying to figure out is how to keep things in check. I've got plants growing out of control, completely covering other plants, going places they're not supposed to, etc. It doesn't grow evenly does it? So now I'm trying to figure out how to get everyone on the same page. It's the first year back for this cinquefoil and good gravy that thing can grow!

It was crazy nuts all over our poor tiny yews that won't budge and it was just a wild mess. I think we thought it was a ground cover? Not so much! So I chopped it. I was hesitant to do it because the flowers are so pretty but they look lovely on the table, and now the garden is looking much tidier.

And look, it even matches Phoebe's cutie outfit!

disarray

I'm starting to work a bit on book promotion these days. The animation should be up soon! We got kind of stuck on music which has definitely been the most challenging part. Right now I'm working on answers to  some interview questions. I'm not having much luck. I don't have my Summer routine/work grove figured out yet. I've been working on these all week and my brain is a blank. My answers are soooo boring.

Describe your work area - overrun with toys and books and crap because everything from the room being painted is in front of my sewing closet.

What's a typical day in the life of Hillary Lang - running the kids around town to their various activities, trying to come up with rainy day fun, breaking up fights and making 20 snacks a day.

I think I'll feel normal again once I get my craft room back. I can't wait! I have lots of house reorganizing projects planned and first on the list, purge. I realized I can't make anything because I'm bogged down with all the stuff I've already made. I need to get some things up and out this house.

three!

Hey blog, sorry for the absence lately. We had a little Junebaby turning three this week and it's been busy busy. We've been to the movies, the baseball game, seen some frisbee catching dogs, opened lots of presents, blown lots of bubbles and eaten LOTS of insane cake. 

Our house has been a wreck because of a painting project so I wasn't able to throw Phoebe a proper party so I made up for my guilt by attempting a cake way out of my comfort zone. Here she is, the rainbow cake.

I followed this gal's directions here and, for the most part, it was a huge success. Only problem was that I ran out of frosting so it was sorta threadbare, oh and also the blue layer mutinied on the drive over to my parents and slid itself halfway out of the cake! I think if I were going to make this again I'd try to use a more traditional sticky frosting between the layers to hold it together and then use the cool whip mix frosting (which was delicious!) for the outer frosting. We were able to smash it all back together and it was yummy so ta-da!! 

bear print giveaway

We have just 2 more bear belly kiss prints left in the shop so I thought I'd yank them and do a little giveaway today. Thanks so much to everyone who bought one! It's so fun for us to have a new category in the shop. We'll be putting up a new art print soon. I just need to cast it and do some location scouting.

**update** congratulations Ashley & Rosa!

if you want in on the giveaway just leave me a yeah/yay/yes/yup in the comments. thanks!

kicking off summer