For Real Friday: Nightstand Nightmare

Happy Black Friday!  If you are out shopping, I hope you come home with some great deals!  I'm hoping to snatch a few Christmas gifts for the kiddos & myself!

So, for this addition of FRF, I am going to show you the current state of my bedroom:

{Before}

Let me preface this by saying that this room is in desperate need of attention!  When we moved in, we plopped all the stuff from our old bedroom in the room & called it a day.  Two years later, & it has only gotten worse!

So, now that I've gotten that out of the way, do you notice anything weird about this room?  This room has one bed & five nightstands!

{Before}

The two round tables flanking the bed are obviously from our old house.  When we re-do our room (hopefully we'll start on it during Christmas vacation) these will go to the basement.  (I guess I really could go ahead & take them down there since we have three other tables in the room!)

The Queen Ann desk will become my nightstand.  It will either be re-done in a silver leaf or just painted cream to match our other furniture.  I will probably accessorize it with a lamp & mirror, so it can also act as a vanity.  I found it for $40 on Craigslist, just before the discovery of my Craigslist Fail!

I bought the small chest in the corner from Overstock a couple of years ago, but it is identical to the Daniella chest from Pottery Barn.  This will become Mark's nightstand & will stay the way it is, with a new lamp & accessories.

{Before}

The small dresser on the right is from Ikea.  I bought it off Craigslist over the summer to use as Mark's nightstand.  Then I decided I would prefer to have a nightstand with pretty legs, so I moved the chest upstairs (it used to be in the entry way) & decided to get rid of the Ikea one.  Some day I'll get around to posting it on Craigslist!

When we brought the last nightstand home, my husband jokingly told the kids that we just needed about three more tables & then our room would be finished!  They just kind of looked at him like he was crazy!  Hopefully, you all don't feel that way about me!  

So, tell me, do you have a room filled with random furniture like this? 





For Real Friday: Announcement

Our hearts are filled with love for what will soon fill our arms!

So, I've been keeping a secret from you!  I am expecting a baby girl in just a little over three months! 

Our plan was to have three children (two didn't seem like enough, but four was too many!) about three years apart.  As most of you know, things don't always go according to our plans!  It worked out pretty well for the first two, but when it came time to start trying for a third, our son started having health issues. 

When Zeke was almost 4, he began having seizures every couple of weeks.  It was terrifying!  The worst was when he had one at a water park, which made the news as a near drowning (but it wasn't...he was in 2 feet of water with a life jacket on, & no water even entered his lungs, since he typically holds his breath during his seizures).  Then, about a year after that, he called me into the bathroom because he had something red (the size of a grape tomato) coming out of his rectum.  (Guess I should have warned you about the graphic nature of this post!)  Again, I was terrified!  It looked like his insides were coming out.  By the time my husband got home, about ten minutes later, it was gone.  This happened several times, & it was determined that it was a rectal prolapse.  (I think it's where the lining of the rectum starts to come out.)  The doctor recommended we have some testing done to make sure Zeke didn't have Cystic Fibrosis, and to also meet with a surgeon in case he needed to have surgery to correct the problem.  To make a long story slightly short, it turned out he didn't have CF & the problem disappeared on it's own.  (I'm sure it was an answer to a lot of prayer!)  We decided to put off any baby plans until we were certain he was healthy.

Once all the health scares passed and we decided to build a house, I found out I was pregnant.  I was shocked!  We hadn't been trying to get pregnant, & honestly, this wasn't a happy surprise for me.  About a month after moving into our home, I started spotting (October 2009).  The doctor scheduled an ultrasound, although, she thought my uterus felt pregnant & told me not to worry.  I went alone to the ultrasound, since my husband was sure everything was fine.  The news was not good.  There was no heartbeat.  I sat for what felt like an eternity, alone in my doctor's office, waiting for him to come in & tell me the dreaded news & discuss my options. 

Suddenly, I wanted to have that baby more than anything.  I felt so guilty for not being excited about the life growing inside me.  I felt like if I had wanted this baby more, then it would have lived.  I cried for days.

Two days after my ultrasound, I had a D&C.  My first "surgery" ever.  When I woke up, I felt empty, like a piece of me was missing.  It took a couple of months for the sadness to leave, although I will never forget this baby.  Even though it was two years ago, I still get sad thinking about it.

Again, we decided to wait on better timing to try for a third child.  When I found out I was pregnant, in early June, I was excited, but cautious.  It took a while before I would trust that this pregnancy would turn out different from my last.  We didn't even tell our kids until I was out of my first trimester!  (They never knew about my last pregnancy & miscarriage.)

Since Zeke & Elie are older (7 &5), it is neat to see how excited they are about this pregnancy!  They love to feel the baby kick, & Elie is constantly trying to come up with "E" names for her!  When we are out shopping, they like to pick out things they think the baby will need.  Zeke informed me that Wal-Mart is the best place to find cute baby clothes!

So, now, we are keeping busy with all the preparations that come with having a baby!  I am determined to make headway on most of the unfinished rooms in our house before the baby gets here.  So far, I have a five page list of things to do in the next three months!  Well, enough babbling, I guess I should get busy on that list!

Wendy

Craigslist Fail

It appears that one of my latest Craigslist purchases was an epic FAIL.  You may recall this post where I showed off some great furniture finds from Craigslist.  I was so excited to transform this love seat into a Ballard Designs look-a-like!

Even though it wasn't finished & appeared a tad bit dirty, I had my husband plop it down in the living room upon it's arrival home.  There it sat for a few weeks, untouched by human bums. 

On Monday, as I was walking through the living room, I noticed a few water marks on the back & cushion.  I thought it was weird that I hadn't noticed them before, so I decided to touch them to see if they were wet.  They were.  At this point I was completely confused.  I was almost 100% sure that no one in my family had come near the sofa since we brought it home.  I looked up at the ceiling above the couch, to see if the ceiling had been leaking, which would have been really weird, since it is above my daughter's bedroom, away from any water pipes.  Nothing.  Then, as only a mother would do, I decided to smell my hand, to see if I could at least determine the substance that had made the sofa wet.

An awful feeling came over me, as I recognized the aroma on my hands.  Urine, from a feline species.  Most likely, this particular feline:

{Kit-Kat}

What would cause our litter box loving cat to suddenly, after nine years, urinate on furniture (& the floor underneath the love seat, which we realized after throwing the furniture out the door)?  She is our only cat, so there is no competition to worry about.  She was spayed when she was a kitten, which is supposed to prevent cats from spraying. 

The most-likely cause (in my opinion) for Kit-Kat to do such a thing is that we got duped by some dishonest people who chose to sell us furniture that had previously been peed on by another cat.  (As I said, it was a little dirty & did have a couple of stains, but I wasn't concerned about it, since the plan was to re-upholster it.)  In her territorial way, Kit-Kat decided to "mark her territory" by spraying the back of the sofa & area around it, to prove to this other (non-existent) animal that this was her domain. 

Ugh...What to do now?  I have been so stressed out this week, trying to figure out how to solve this mess that I have created.  After several Google searches, this is how I am hoping I can resolve the problem:

1.  Remove the offensive furniture.  (Sadly, my $40 is going into the garbage tomorrow.)

2. Contain Kit-Kat in the laundry room, where her food, water, & litter box are, until we have taken the next steps.  (This has been torturous for us, as we've had to listen to her meow all day & night.  Luckily, she is using the litter box, so that's a good sign!)

3. Use an ammonia-free urine cleaner to saturate & remove the urine spot from the carpet.  I plan on going to Pet Smart tonight & hopefully, I can find at least one of these recommended products:  Stainaway, Natures Miracle Just for Cats, Urine Off, Odorlogic Cleanaway Pet Stain & Odor Remover.

4. Let the spot completely dry & then use a black light to make sure all of the urine was removed.  (Repeat step 3 if necessary.)

5. Spray a repellent, such as SSSCat Spray or No Scratch Spray on the previously peed on area, to keep the cat away from there.  I've heard aluminum foil also works well as a repellent, as cats don't like the feel or sound that it makes when walking on it.

6. I guess I will have to choose between #5 & #6 for this one...Spray Feliway, on the area, which is a pheromone product designed to comfort cats, on the area in which the love seat sat, so Kit-Kat doesn't get upset, if there is a lingering scent from the offensive "cat couch".

7. Once the carpet is completely clean & dry, we will probably let the cat out of the laundry room while we are awake & at home.  It will probably be a while before I will trust her alone in the house while we are either sleeping or away.

8. For added protection, we will try to keep her litter box extra clean.

9. If all of those solutions fail, the vet can prescribe a short term anti-anxiety medication (for the cat, although I may need some too!) which has been known to help solve the problem also.

So, have you ever had a failed Craigslist purchase?  Do you have any additional advice to offer on the whole cat pee situation?  I need all the advice I can get, because I've heard this type of habit is hard to break.

Well, that sums up my epic fail!  I guess if you want to prevent this type of situation for yourself (since I will most likely never buy used upholstered furniture again), you may want to bring a black light to make sure there are no surprises once you get the furniture home!

Sharing here:

Furniture Feature Friday with Miss Mustard Seed



         

Closet Catastrophe

My kids' closets have been driving me crazy lately!  With our busy schedules & home improvement projects, there hasn't been a whole lot of cleaning & organizing that have been happening in our house.

Here is what Eliana's closet looked like:

{Before}

{Before}

In my opinion, neither one of these pictures really do the closet justice.  We added a few shelves on the left side of her closet when we first moved in to add some extra storage.  The baskets weren't really doing a good job containing all of her dress up clothes.  I ended up storing all the clothes on the top shelf (out of season) in an empty storage container under her bed.  Then, I bought some laundry baskets to hold her dirty clothes, blankets, stuffed animals, & some of her dress up clothes.

{Shelves After}

I also had Mark hang a couple of hooks to hold her backpacks & purses.

{After}

On the right side of Elie's closet, I added a tension rod & hung her tutus and princess dresses on it.  It works out really well, because she is able to see all of her dresses now!

{After}

I think this little bit of organizing makes this closet function much better!  It's been nearly a week, & I'm glad to say that it has stayed organized!  I was a little worried that the tension rod would fall down, but so far, it has stayed up!  (Knock on wood...)

Have you organized anything lately?







For Real Friday: The State of my Mums

From now on (until I change my mind anyway!) I am going to be sharing the ugly truth on Fridays! 

Earlier this month...or was it last month...I planted beautiful yellow mums in the urns on our front porch.  Here's a reminder of what they looked like:

{Earlier}

This is what has become of these colorful flowers:

{Today}

I have a problem with consistency when it comes to a lot of things...watering plants is just one of them!  Since the leaves were still green, I decided to "deadhead" all the buds & hope that some new ones might form before the end of the season.  If not, it still looks better without all the brown, dead, flowers!

{Looking a little more green!}

My plan is to start watering these again.  We'll see how long the leaves stay green!  Wish me luck!