Nesting... Upholstering a Headboard!

Well, I have definitely been nesting. I am a nesting fool, actually. I love projects. Not just for the baby, but for the house in general. I want to get this that and the other thing done before the baby arrives because I know it'll never happen AFTER the baby arrives... so it's go-time, people.

This past weekend was our Baby Shower, which was WONDERFUL. My friends and family were so creative and thoughtful it was just completely unbelieveable. I posted more about it on my family-blog site, so check that out for more details on the shower (rather than my being repetitive).

And because my mum wanted to bring out my old cradle and rocking chair and be here for the shower, she DROVE out last week and got here last Wednesday and stayed till today. In fact, I just got a text saying she was in her seat on the plane and shutting off her phone. So au revoir, mum! But while she was here, we went to work on my nesting. I wanted new curtains (either for us to make them or buy them) and a new upholstered headboard for our master bedroom. I also want to paint our master bathroom and put in new towel-bars, those 2 projects we didn't get to, but I will take care of them no problem (don't worry, I'll use VOC-free paint!).

So we found curtains that were JUST what I wanted at Target for $19.99 per panel, score! And then we gathered our goods to MAKE the headboard. I found the "how-to" on this website: BeJane.

We modified a LITTLE, but not much... we went to Home Depot and got a giant piece of 1/2" MDF board instead of plywood because it's not supposed to warp like plywood does. And then while there we asked the nice man about the brackets in the BeJane directions and he suggested French Cleats instead with these nifty "EZ Ancor" screw anchor things that go into drywall so you don't have to hunt for studs. So we got them and man the french cleats worked like a charm! We also got an electric staple/nail gun and staples since we didn't have one yet. Next we went to JoAnn fabrics to gather the rest of the goods... the 2" foam (which was on sale!), the quilt batting, and the fabric of my dreams, a gorgeous green and gold demask that goes with the color scheme in our bedroom beautifully. We were also planning on doing some tufting with buttons using the HGTV quick version of tufting (cheating), using a staple gun and glue gun to stick the buttons on... but that didn't work, so no tufting for us! No matter, it looks great. Anyways, so after stockpiling all our goods, we got to work!

First we had to cut the foam to the right size and then glue the 2 pieces of foam together with special foam glue and we ironed the fabric... didn't take a pic of those steps. Once all the layers were ready, we laid them down... Fabric first, then quilt batting, then foam and finally the MDF board:



Then we started with the quilt batting... because we were unable to get a piece big enough to really wrap all the way around like the directions indicated, we decided to staple that to the MDF first so it wouldn't bunch. I think it was the best decision we made. It really made things neat and tidy. I was SO glad we decided to do that.


Next we did the same with the fabric, being very careful to pull evenly so it was a nice even pull from the front side, and we folded over the edges kind of like a hem before stapling so it wouldn't come unraveled at all. My mom is the nursing corner master, so I let her fold and figure out the corners, and dang she did a nice job, didn't she?!



After that came the moment of truth... how did it look?! So we propped it up to take a look... NOT TOO SHABBY!!! LOVES IT! This is when we put blue painting tape on where we were going to tuft buttons, but after attempting to put them on, the staples wouldn't go through the 2" foam and the batting and stick into the wood, so alas, no buttons, but I'm okay with it, it looks fantastic.


So, moving on. We then attached the french cleats to the back of the headboard and to the wall. We were very careful in our measurements here, ensuring that we had our cleats evenly spaced on the board, and then placed perfectly on the wall. I wanted the headboard to go down about 4-6" below the very top of my mattress, so we made sure when measuring that we accounted for that. We centered it on the wall and the french cleats have a neat "level" feature that truly tells you when your cleats are level. They are awesome!
(and yes, of course we signed the back with the date!)


Anyways, once we had the cleats in place on both the board and the wall, we mounted the board onto the wall. PIECE OF CAKE! It was awesome! Thank you Mr. Home Depot guy for introducing us to the french cleats! And you can just kinda slide it back and forth until it was centered where we wanted it. Fabness.


Then we moved the bed back into place, made it up and VOILA! Fabulous new "adult-looking" headboard! Okay! Now I'm ready to have a baby! :)
Thank you Grandmummy-to-be!!! :)

So! If you're interested in doing this, it's TOTALLY worthwhile and definitely rewarding. It was NOT as hard as I was afraid it would be (especially with those nifty french cleat and EZ Ancor things!) and you can do it in any color/pattern you like! I recommend reading through the BeJane instructions on the link above, and then change what you want like we did!
Go forth and be crafty. ;)
*alliwilli

Nothing says "Happy Anniversary" like Sonic Drive-Thru and Cold Metal Bleachers... :)

Ha! Yep, that's how we spent our 4 year anniversary evening yesterday! But that's just who we are, so why should anyone expect anything different!?!

Yesterday, October 14th, 2009, marked our 4th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 4 years!?! Craziness! It seems like just the other day we were planning for all the hoopla! But what a great 4 years it's been. :) So yesterday I drove my fabulous husband into work and then came home and we both worked full days. Then I went to a 5:15 TaeBo class, grabbed some Sonic Drive-thru for dinner (mm, tater tots) and met Ryan in the very fancy lobby of his Lockheed work building, where we dined on our take-out... after eating he changed into his softball gear and we headed north to Arvada for his Wednesday league game at 8:15pm.

The game was a real nail-biter... whichever team was at bat, was the team winning, which was scary because Ryan's was the visiting team, so they would not have had the last bat! However, at the end of regulation, it was tied, so it went into "extra innings" which has all different rules (to keep us from sitting out there all night long, kind of like "sudden death" in football/soccer). Each player only gets ONE pitch... if you don't swing and it's a strike, you're out. If you swing and it's a foul ball, you're out. If you swing and miss, you're out. If you don't swing and it's a ball, you get to take first base. And if you swing and make fair contact, then the ball is in play. Sheesh! Anyways, our team was able to produce 4 runs during this wacky inning, but when the home team came to bat, they were only able to produce 2 runs, so we won! Hooray! Ryan played like a crazy-man out there. The catcher on the other team said to him about half-way through the game when he came up to bat, "Hey, no more of that monkey business in the field, huh?"... HAHAHA! He was THRILLED with how well he played, but boy is he feeling it this morning... achy braky back (and neck!)... :)

We got home at around 10:30 and hit the hay. And that was our 4 year anniversary. :)

We plan to celebrate out to a nice dinner at the Brown Palace Hotel's Palace Arms Restaurant in downtown Denver either this coming Tuesday night, or in a couple weeks when things slow down for us a bit. Either way, we will honor our special day with a special dinner sometime soon.

Here we are, the happy couple, this past Sunday at the Rockies' NLDS Game 3... it was MAYBE 30 degrees when the game STARTED at 8pm and probably closer to 18 degrees when the game finished at midnight. We were SO bundled up we looked like Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum... and to top it all off, we bought some 2XL shirts at WalMart to sport over our 80 layers of warmth, just to show our team flare. :)


Oh yeah, and I'm still pregnant... uh huh, you betchya... just entered my 3rd Trimester and am doing GREAT. For more info on that, you can check out my OTHER blog, as usual, since that's where I talk about all things pregnancy and family. :)
Later taters,
*alliwilli

Monday Randomness

Well, I don't have anything in particular to blab about, but just feel like blabbing, so let it begin. First I'd like to share a few websites with you!

For any of you who are mommies, my friend Ally introduced me to diapers.com, so I know I'll be taking full advantage in 2010! They even sell gDiapers. The diapers (and other various & sundry baby items) are discounted a little AND the shipping is free! Score.

Another good site is a friend's blog. She's a runner, and I used to consider myself a runner (before pregnancy) and I love her motivational blog updates and recipes, etc. So for your enjoyment: A Running Girl's Blog.

The weather is changing now here, and I love it. My favorite season is fall, and so I welcome the crisp cooler air and even being downright chilly. I sleep better and get in better workouts and just feel better about myself period. I love fall flavors as well... soups, stews, chilis, apples, pumpkin this-n-that, and of course, candy corn... mmm. The fall also brings some crazy pre-winter weather... we might have 80 degrees on the front range, but we can look out and see the snow-capped mountains in the distance now, which I adore. :) And the other day I saw the most beautiful rainbow. Gorgeous. Check it out! You can even see the secondary rainbow along side it. You'll notice that the colors are reverse of one another... red being the color on the upper band of the primary, and the lower band of the secondary. Aren't you fascinated like me? Please excuse my physics geek shining through... I did an independent study on the optics of rainbows my junior year at SMCM. :)

Anyways, just wanted to say hello, no big news or anything!
*alliwilli

my OTHER blog...

Today I just updated my other blog... the one that's supposed to be for family... so if you're looking for an update on me and the fam, that's where you can find it! Total cop-out, huh? HA!

Also, I'm SO proud of myself this afternoon, I actually went for a run again! I went on Saturday morning and it was wonderful. The cooler weather makes all the difference in the world. I haven't been able to get out and run/walk in a while because of the heat. Today was warmer than I would have liked it, but I still got out there and busted a move! Yeah! I started at a 2 min walk + 8 min run (we'll call it running anyways) but after 2 sets of that I backed off to 3 min walk + 7 min run... gotta listen to the ole body, yeah? Yeah! But either way, it was great. I went 3 1/2 miles in about 41 minutes. Not too shabby for my "condition". :)

Tonight I have a book club dinner out with some girls. I only think I know 2 or 3 of them, but it'll be fun all the same. We're meeting at a restaurant in the Highlands called Lola, which I believe is southwest cuisine... mm, Baby Willi's favorite. And we're discussing the book 'The God of Animals' by Aryn Kyle. It was a great young adult fiction novel. It'll be fun to hear what the other gals have to say about it. I'm not sure I'd suggest it to a pre-teen or early teen, it's kind of heavy for that age, but maybe I'm just aging myself and showing how disconnected I've become with "our youth". HA!



Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Oh! Speaking of! Tonight is the premiere of The Biggest Loser! I'd better go set up the DVR to record it!!!
xo
alliwilli

Respecting my Body...

Well, today I learned a whole new level of respect for my body. I'm not one to give up or give in, even when my body hurts or is over tired. I generally suck it up and "just do it" as I've been told repeatedly by Nike marketing. However, I had a long week with very little sleep and it was beginning to catch up with me. I was supposed to be able to sleep in late yesterday (Saturday) and then get up today and go do the Fans in the Park 10K downtown... but yesterday we had to get up early and head to the fields for Ryan's 8:30 and 9:30 flag football games, during which I ran and did resistance band exercises. So again, another night without enough zz's (only 4 1/2 hours to be exact). So last night Ryan asked me if I thought it was smart to again get less than 8 hours of sleep and get up and attempt to "run" a 10K. I mulled it over and decided he was right. It's time to listen to my body, which very much needed to sleep in without an alarm to wake it up, only waking when it was recovered. So I bailed out of the race. I NEVER bail out of a race. I paid my $20 and I never just let that money and the freebie T-shirt go... this is a first. Part of me felt like such a loser-jerk, but then I remembered that it's not about me, it's about an unborn baby that needs its momma to be healthy, which not only means good nutrition and regular exercise, but also plenty of sleep. So I'm going to pat myself on the back for this one, instead of beating myself up. :)

Health Update

Sorry to leave you hanging on how Ryan's dad is doing... So he had surgery last Monday to have a tumor removed from his bladder and that surgery went really well, very successful. The tumor was removed completely (or so they think) using a scope and he had the catheter removed Thursday. He stayed with Megan & Mike from Tuesday when he was released from the hospital, until Friday morning. He seems to be in good spirits and is feeling a thousand times better. No more pain when he pees and he's able to "hold it" now, which is wonderful.

However, on Thursday when he was at the doctor having the catheter removed they were able to give him his pathology results from the biopsy of the tumor, and the results were positive, as in malignant/cancerous. :( So now we wait for this Friday's oncologist appointment to hear what the plan is from here on out... as I understand it, he will undergo a PT or CT scan on Friday to learn if the cancer was in fact constrained to the tumor itself and whether they got it all or not, keep your fingers and toes crossed that it has not spread anywhere else. After they know the extent of the cancer, they'll create a plan... whether he does radiation and chemo, or has further surgery to remove his prostate and bladder will be determined once they know what they've got.

So, we're all kind of coping with the news. Ryan seems to be doing pretty well, all things considered. None of us like the waiting between appointments, so hopefully the oncology office will be good about getting Randy information and services, otherwise Megan and I will probably get snarky towards the office.

Anyways, sorry for the downer-post, but I know you all wanted to know what came of the biopsy and such... thank you for your thoughts and prayers, please continue to keep Randy in them.

On a lighter note, we had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, did you? I had a Greek themed girls' night on Friday night full on with Guitar Hero Rock Band, then Saturday we got lots done around the house and went to the Rockies' game, and then Sunday Ryan had a softball tournament that his team WON!!! Awesome! He hit the game-winning hit! Woo hoo! Then we had friends over for the Rocky Mountain Showdown, and CSU WON!!! YEE-HAW! Then yesterday we truly relaxed... we slept in, I finished my book, we went to A Taste of Colorado downtown for a crazy sampler lunch... and then more relaxation. Very nice.

Hope you're all doing well! Enjoy the short work-week!
xo - alliwilli

P.S. If anyone needs/wants an LLBean Ultralight Sleeper Sofa, we're selling ours... or giving it away... we need to get it out of the room that's going to be the nursery, and we have no where else to put it... I posted a listing on craigslist but if you're interested, let me know and I'll send pictures. :)

A Visit Home, to the Berkshires

First, for any of you wondering where the Berkshires might be... check out the latest issue of 'SHAPE' magazine and there on page 42 you'll get a full description of the best way to stay active in the Berkshires and just where it is exactly! Ha! No, but really, the Berkshires are the rolling mountains, and the county I grew up in, in Western Massachusetts... beautiful.

So this past weekend I flew back for my best friend from high school, Becky's wedding!!! SO EXCITING! :) She looked absolutely gorgeous. Wow. Very simple, just like she is, but stunning. She was nervous about the make-up because she doesn't usually (ahem, EVER) wear any, but I think it just made her look fab. The wedding was held on Saturday afternoon at Ford Hill Farm in Sheffield, MA. Though it rained all weekend, Mother Nature took a little break Saturday afternoon to allow Beck & Keith to get married at their desired location outdoors in a beautiful field with wonderful views of the Berkshire mountains. Then they held their reception at a great BBQ restaurant! It was perfect. My date was our other good friend and soccer compadre, Sarah Peace... SO fun. Man did we laugh... good times! HA!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy...

T Barry walking Becky in... yes, that's an antique fire engine... that's what the newlyweds made their arrival to the reception in, siren and all! HA!


Here's Beck & Keith getting married with the amazing natural backdrop


Here's the trio that played at the wedding, and the bathtub up on Ford Hill... I couldn't stop laughing... what the heck?!?! HAHAHA!


And here the 3 of us girls are at the reception


Here's a quality shot of what Beck and I looked like in most of my memories... you'll see a similar picture of she and I on facebook from when we were like 14! Ha!


In addition to the wedding on Saturday, I had a wonderful visit with my family the rest of the weekend. As soon as my mum passes along the pictures from our family cookout on Sunday, I'll post some of those too, assuming there are some fun/good ones :)

On a more somber note, say some prayers for Ryan and his family... His Dad had a bladder tumor removed yesterday and they are biopsying it this week to see if it's benign or malignant. We're obviously hoping for benign so that the surgery is the last of it, so pray for that good news. We're also waiting to hear from the neurologist on why Ryan's brother-in-law, Mike, is having seizures... he has an appointment today to follow up on an EEG amongst other tests, so we're hoping for some kind of determination on that front as well. Talk about a scary week on the Williams' side of things :(

Best to you all! (Wow, 2 blog posts in as many weeks... I'm cookin' with gas, now! Ha!)
xo*alliwilli