What Ana Does

Here's the best way to spend a weekend morning:  Fill a table with cookbooks, back-issues of magazines you haven't read yet, your grocery list, your weekly menu planner, to-do notebook, plenty of tech so you can check in with social media and listen to music, and a hot cup of coffee (with lots of milk). Don't forget to throw in a soft blanket and send the kids away on a sleepover.  Then, simply bask in the glory of Me time.  

There's about 3,000 different ways to hang a gallery wall on Pinterest. The tips include using laser-levels and cutting cardboard/craft paper -- hanging those first to figure out positioning. Awk. Well, I am not in it for the precision. I like the casual feel of hand-arranged frames on a wall. If I attempted to measure and make it uniform (like I did on the record album wall), any irregularity would drive me nuts-o. Before: A Newly-White Wall So here's what I do: start on one side of the wall and hang the big frames first. I attempted to make them about the same distance apart, but I just eyeball it. I do use a level to make the frames straight -- I'm not that sloppy. Then I fill in with the smaller frames. The key is to use the same black frame/white matte combo. Then they look cohesive no matter how they are hung. After: A Wall of Growing Girls, With Room For More I ordered a bunch of newer photos to add to the wall in an 8x10 size. So I'll be f...

I finished Leo's comic quilt in record time this week ... could it be because of my new sewing machine??? What I learned on this quilting project: - Cut straighter and sew a little further from the edge and you won't have to fix up any holes between squares later on. Duh, right? - I rocked the mitered corners ... well, all except one. - I machine-stitched in-the-ditch instead of hand-quilting. It felt like cheating but I really like the result.  So nice to feel I'm improving, even if just a little. Off to the next project ....  Related posts: Other quilting projects

Me and My Honey 2003 First, let's flashback to the Christmas of 2003. I was dating THIS guy and out of now where he buys me a Singer sewing machine as a gift. I don't recall ever hinting about wanting one or pointing it out at Target. I really don't. So I was pretty darn surprised when I opened it up. I mean, what BOY buys a GIRL a sewing machine? So, obviously, I married him. Meanwhile, I learned all that I know on my new machine, creating a ton of projects from kid's clothes to curtains. It was dependable, light and very simple to use. And one of my favorite all-time Christmas gifts. Thank you, honey! Opening My Singer So, flash forward to this weekend and my Singer of 12 years throws in the towel, just as I was about to start the quilt for baby Leo. Jammed gears and no ability to reverse join the tension control that gave up months ago. I consult my Mom and she concurs, it's time for a new machine. Oh joy! A few years ago in New Jersey I took a ...

Here are a few things that are making me happy today ... - I'm eating up all this news about Fifty Shades of Grey . The good and bad reviews are fun to read. I say YAY to big Romance movies, I'm tried of bloody violent superheroes. (Though, no, I haven't seen it yet.) - The Oscars are this weekend. I love the glamour and ditz of the red carpet and a live awards show where movie stars mingle. (Though, I love the Golden Globes a lot more.) - In social media news, I started following hotdudesreading on instagram and @RealCarrotFacts on twitter and they make my day with every update. - Also on Social Media, my favorite characters from the Raven Cycle series have twitter accounts and I'm following them and-they-are-following-me-and-that-all-kind-of hurts my brain a little. Are they REAL? (heh) - The highlight of my weekend might be replacing my sewing box and reorganizing all the tools therein. Craft boxes are on sale at Michael's right now.

I can't seem to stop buying HATS this winter. This new one fits little Alice's head ... and her personality. It's all about the hats this season, folks.  Bus Stop Gal and Her New Cap Related posts: More shopping stories

Well, the two quilt projects I've been working on all month are done and ready to get to their respective baby boys. Though they are both far from perfect, they're as good as they're going to get. In this quilting thing, I like how the work is segmented: First, is the creative part where you organize and plan the quilt. I like putting the pieces together and attempt to make them "make sense." It's satisfying to pick a theme and see it go from yards of fabric to a cohesive (mostly) unit. This part taxes my brain a little, as there's no clue that I'm done, it's just when I feel satisfied with what I have laid out in front of me. The second part is construction; sewing those pieces together. Something always goes amiss at this step and I'm usually reworking some part of the quilt. For example, I don't sew the rows perfectly straight, or I've cut crooked or I'm not sewing tight enough and holes emerge between the squares. Sigh. ...

It took the painters two days and some really tall ladders to get the family room out of beige and into the LIGHT! Wow what a difference it has made to this space.  Before - Beige and Beige The painters also painted the baseboards and trim. There was some concern about the blue wall, but they handled it beautifully. (Ugh, that fireplace looks even more terrible.)  White Goes On! The Navy Wall Now POPs with Drama! The Behr paint was low-odor, so I didn't need to worry about all of us living in the terrible smell. Since it is February, I couldn't leave the windows open all day.  After - The Corner All Spiffed Up I even got to vacuum the accordion shades while they were down and you would not believe how WHITE they look now. I really thought they were beige, too! Now, they look more ivory. It's some kind of decor miracle. One more thing about the curtains: the top curtains run on batteries to roll up and down. Those batteries have been dead since...

As part of the painter's project this week, they're painting out the two-story entryway from the awful beige (I think that was the actual color name: awful) to our Polar Bear White. They even cleaned up my board and batten! (See the start of that project here. ) Before - White Below, Beige All the Way Up After - All White and Looking GOOD I mean ... worth. every. penny. Looks so much better! Related posts: The entryway board and batten project start Getting the boards up The board and batten is done! All the Entryway posts

Um, I'm starting to get the feeling there isn't a happily-ever-after ending for Claire and Jaime -- as evidenced by the latest trailer for the second half of season 1. (Coming out the week of my birthday, thankyou!) I haven't read the books and I've been avoiding it mostly because I enjoyed the first part of the season so much I don't want to spoil anything. But I see things like this and I think I should pick up the books and just get it over with. The anticipation is killing me. KILLING ME. I bought the book. And it taunts me, when my thoughts stray to this story. "Read me and find out ...." What more is in store for these two? I'm Team Jamie all the way (Frank? Really? As if.) And I don't mind drama as long as it's happy at the end. I've spent too much time thinking about this. How does it end! Wait! Don't tell me. Also ... you need to see this .

In the three year's we've lived in this house, we have not once been able to open the shades on the five windows that are around the second-story of our family room. The previous owners installed blinds run by batteries. But those batteries ran out long ago. So, they stayed closed. The painters are here painting the family room a bright white and the room looks like a greenhouse with all the morning sunlight pouring in. It may be 12 degrees outside, but its sunny and warm in my family room. Look at Those Windows!

I've got two things to say about the 50 Shades of Grey movie that is coming out this weekend -- as someone who will own up to reading the book. And, I'm not ashamed to admit, rather enjoyed the story. I keep reading criticisms about the book and the story that are just crazy annoying. One, can we all collectively remember this is a romance , well actually an  erotica ,   novel? And, as such, has all the characteristics of a romance novel; cheap and quickly produced. While there are different levels of writing/production of Romance novels, overall, they are not well-written. I mean, when was the last time a romance novel was up for a Pulitzer, huh!? They are written so fans can multitask while reading them. They usually have typos/misspellings, repetitive information and the characters are generally one dimensional -- which allows the female reader to put themselves into the book more completely. See? Get it? So, expecting this book to be a classic example of timeless l...

About once a week Alice protests the world. Something, and it could be anything -- like unfair strawberry distribution at breakfast or being too rushed or not finding her favorite black sweater -- sets her off and the whole morning is thrown. She doesn't want to leave the house, doesn't want to get on the bus and certainly doesn't want to go to Kindergarten. This always surprises us because this kid has been going to day care every morning since infancy, so you'd think she'd be used to this. But no. Those long weekends confuse her and here we are, usually on Mondays. But, she likes to spring these on us. Just to keep us on our toes. The secret is to not lose your temper. Not think about missing the bus or my morning meeting. Keep upbeat. Distract her with plans for the evening. Games. Music. Yoga. Whatever. And bustle her out the door and to the bus stop. Yelling, arguing, logic or punishments just set you back. Her favorite form of protest these days is jus...

This is why I love books so much; I'll read a passage in a book that explains something about myself that I never could put into simple words. Or never thought deep enough about to explain. Like this: "Part of the problem with parties was that I couldn't even tell what the goal was, so I never knew when I was done."   I have more in common with Isabel from Maggie Steifvater's Shiver series than I care to admit, and this quote rang so true for me I grabbed a pen and underlined it. Then remembered it was a library book. Whoops. This quote is from Sinner , a new companion book to the Shiver series that ties up the Isabel/Cole storyline. I stayed up past midnight for the last few nights because I couldn't put it down. So good. Go read a book. Related posts: Read more quotes

I'm so excited I'm nearly bursting! This month we'll finally be doing some major redecorating in our family room. Family Room - The BEFORE Picture Let's review the to do list: -- Paint those AWFUL beige walls. Painters will be here next week. Teehee! -- Replace the sofa with a newer one ... as posted earlier this week. -- Replace the coffee table (which isn't sooo bad) with the matching ottoman. -- The Legos that took up the space behind the sofa have been relocated to the basement. What will go there now, I ask myself. -- The matching armchair that was by the yellow lamp in the corner has found a new home in our bedroom. Another design dilemma in that little space. What belongs there? -- And if I'm feeling sew-y, I have material for the valences on the new windows flanking the fireplace. It could happen. -- Then rearranging all the little decorative stuff around the room. That's aways fun. BEFORE: The View From Behind the Sofa ...

Early Look! It was a successful weekend for sofa shopping -- as we found our next family room couch on the showroom at Macy's Furniture. Yippee! In brief: For the last year we've been searching for a sofa to replace the old and tired one in our family room that has been with us for nearly a decade. More details to come as we order, wait and wait and finally get the new sofa delivered. Patience.

Well, Mother Nature did not disappoint in her latest winter storm. Over a foot of snow fell on Sunday keeping us indoors for the whole day (19 inches, I'm told). I like being stuck in the house , so this was not a horrible way to spend a Sunday. Especially since I had a well-stocked kitchen and no where to be. Not to mention the hours and hours of Super Bowl programming. Ahhhh winter. I hate you but I kinda enjoy your perks, at the same time. This morning, they cancelled school so we could dig out our driveways. This year -- actually, only a few weeks ago -- we purchased a little snow blower (Dave got tennis elbow from shoveling almost every weekend last year). And this morning that little baby paid for itself. Hurray! The sun was shining but it was only in the single digits -- so this snow isn't melting anytime soon. The New Snow Blower!