Sandoval Family Blog

Old chair made new, and an Olivia moment

I bought this chair last summer at the small junk/antique store in Pungo (there's only one!). It was $40. I picked out some very funky fabric, got it recovered (finally) and it's my new favorite chair. Of course, the cats were trying it out within 10 minutes of its arrival. 

And now for...An Olivia Moment

A couple of nights ago, Olivia and I were watching High School Musical 2. It's the end of the movie and the main characters kiss one another and then these big golf-course lawn sprinklers comes on and drench them and they all sing and dance off into the sunset, so to speak. So Olivia says during this scene, "I want to do that one day, mom."

"Oh gosh", I think.

So I say calmly, "Oh, you want to kiss a boy one day?"

"No, I want to play in the sprinkler like them," she says all cool.

That was a close one. 

Foyer storage

If there's one decorating thing I'm about...it's storage. I've had my eye on the Pottery Barn Samantha Entryway Collection - but after three years of not being able to stomach the price, I discovered that Penneys copied that very set and sold it for half the price - including the baskets and cushions. Then it went on big-time sale. Yay. So here's the new entryway furniture - we had to put it together, but it was worth it.

View from up the stairs - you can see that it's really tucked in a corner - the french door leads to our home office. When the front door opens, the storage is partially behind it.

Close-up. The longer, framed black item is a quote that says: “In the perspective of every person
lies a lens through which we may better understand ourselves.” - Ellen J. Langer

Summer feet collection

It's been so cold. I'm ready for spring. Today I was remembering last summer's flip flop collection here at the Sandoval house. I even framed a set of "flip flop feet" for the den recently. Olivia's feet are the bottom two - the top is my friend's daughter.

After complaining that we weren't having a real winter, it got bitterly cold. (Okay, not as bitter as other places. But 25 degrees is bitter for here!) It's supposed to warm up this week - finally. Here's to a warm-up that lasts.

Christmas decore

Christmas has come and gone - three times to be specific, since

We had three family dinners in the course of three weeks - and now the decorations are coming down. In an effort to remember where to put things next year, I took photos of the decorations.

Half-lit Christmas tree in den:

The revised version of the story of Christmas

Since we were in the Christmas spirit yesterday (thanks to the 6-hour Advent box project and a batch of Christmas cookies), we put out the Christmas decorations in Olivia's room before her bedtime. This includes a small Christmas tree and a nativity set that sits next to it. When we got up this morning, we discovered that Olivia had added an additional character to the nativity.

"And low, after the three Wisemen, the Shepherds and the angel appeared, a pink bear from the West appeared. And he shall be called Tenderheart CareBear. And bring tidings of peace and love."

Advent Calendar

I love it when one of my craft ideas ends up eating an entire day! Have wrapped up the advent "calendar" for the bookcases. Wrapped a bunch of tiny boxes the hard way (in that old-fashioned way by wrapping the lid separate from bottom, so you can re-use them year after year). Stamped, tied ribbon and used rub-on transfer to jazz up said boxes.

And after Olivia went to bed, filled up all boxes (and a few tiny bags and "take out" boxes) with quarters, chocolates, a few random trinkets and pieces of paper with "prompts" on them. For example: Have a cup of hot chocolate and watch a holiday special. Others were more about remembering the spirit of the season, like "Light a candle to remember Granny." Or "Take two toys from your room and put them in the Goodwill bag to be donated to children who don't have toys at Christmas." Also, "feed the birds," etc.

Finally, around midnight, I was finished and organized them in the bookshelves. Took loads of photos and you can see them all here. Or a few sample ones here:

Displaying photos in the house

I've been meaning to take photos of how I display photos in the house - odd, I know. But sometimes I get inspired when I see this sort of thing on other blogs, so wanted to share some of my displays. I'll add more photos to this entry as I find them to use. As with most photos here, you should be able to click on these to get larger versions.

"Storyboards" framed and hung on the wall in the den. These are very inexpensive IKEA frames - you can get similar ones at Michael's also.

Mantle:

One of my favorite displays. Of all the photos I've taken this year of our friend's children. Yeah, Olivia's in there, too!

 

Decorating shots

Table decore for Olivia's birthday. Sat up three different areas for 13 people to eat. Served a big pan of homemade lasagna.