Home Improvements, or What We Do in the Wintertime

First off, let me follow-up to yesterday's post a little bit. I am SO grateful and relieved that Lauren admitted to an occasion of feeling bad and giving the flower back, because it turns out that therein lies my Achilles heel. How can I help it? She gets out of bed, so I take a flower, and as I turn to leave with it she rushes after me in horror (she does value them even though they are not cute!) and of course in so doing loses another flower. And so forth, until all three flowers (and Blankie) are gone within seconds. This presents a new problem because she genuinely cannot sleep without her blankie. The few times she's had to, it took her forever to fall asleep and then she cried out several times during the night. Now that the entire predicament is laid out, however, I do not believe that the real issue here is our consistency; I believe it is in Kate's complete inability to reconcile cause and effect. This has been a problem that made her 2-year-old year a complete nightmare. It doesn't matter how MANY TIMES I count to three, she is still genuinely shocked when she winds up in time out. I just can't get her to understand "IF this, THEN this." Now if anyone can enlighten me as to how I can successfully get this across to a three-year-old, I would love the advice.

Last night I carefully went over the rules with her (s-l-o-w-l-y) and she managed to comprehend (or seemed to) that if she got out of bed anymore, she would lose her flowers. That didn't stop her from trying to call me back in, but eventually she did go to sleep at a decent time. I mark this as a temporary success, though, since I chalk it up to her concern for her own medical well-being rather than an acceptance of concrete and unchanging rules. (She has been very anxious about the twitch in her eye and lately has been eager to get more sleep so it will go away. This has also resulted in some long - up to 3 hrs! - and glorious naps during the past couple days!)

What was I saying? Oh yes, home improvements. Remember the Krista vs. Window Coverings saga from September? Well, it was a short-lived triumph as those makeshift shades have gradually worn out a bit under the duress of, well okay, shoddy workmanship. Something had to be done.

$9 and 5 minutes later, here is the solution:
EASY right? I can't believe I spent so much time and energy on those last little pieces.
Plus I've always loved curtains with grommets. Like these.
Unfortunately there were only two panels left, which *barely* (not quite) cover all 3 windows when closed, but whatever.

As Travis likes to say, this is our "practice house".

Also, let's not forget my pride and joy...
I've been looking for a big, comfy reading chair for I don't know how long. I didn't even care if it was ugly and I had to recover it or completely reupholster it - I was up to the task! However, that was {fortunately} unnecessary - you just witnessed my home decorating fabric skills when I tried to make curtains - because this baby is already beautiful! Can you believe I scored it for $20???

Me neither.

Of course there has to be a reason, right? There was. It came from a household of toddlers who were apparently allowed to eat and drink (and whatever else!) wherever they liked. You can see where this is going. The family was moving and had no room for this, so they let me have it in its current condition for $20! All it took was a good cleaning...
and I DO mean a VERY. GOOD. CLEANING.

I worked all day on this thing with my beloved Hoover Steam Vac. It was so bad I literally gagged from the smell as I was emptying the tank. Travis had to finish for me. But now, it is clean.

Also I realize it totally doesn't match the other furniture, and I don't even care. It also takes up so much room that there is nothing to do in the living room but sit. In fact, you walk in, look around, and can't help but think to yourself, "Hm I think I'll sit down." It's all right. We enjoy sitting.

ON TO.... the girls' room
*********
First, I painted the back wall pink.
Then I hung Brooklyn's letters up by her bed.
And the window.
Melissa and I got these sweet windows for a total steal!
This is as far as I've gotten with mine. I actually hung it up. But trust me, I have some awesome window treatment ideas in store for this one too!
Kate's letters went back up too, after a long break when Brooklyn was born. I wish the two names matched a little better, but Brooklyn's name is freaking long. There is no way I am fitting eight of those gigantic letters on the wall! Also, the little "butterfly" above KATE... there is a story behind that one too, which I may tell you sometime.

At the head of the beds I put more framed paper-bird-on-fabric cutouts, with a random mirror.
(To the left of Kate's bed you will see the infamous Construction Paper flowers.)

And, that is all.