9flights's Profile

Ha! I get to keep my turquoise accent wall after all! Good thing, because with all the snow I look out on all winter, it makes me happy to see that color.

wow, i better repaint and reconfigure my family room with its turquoise chalkboard accent wall with the cardboard deer head and owl decals.

This is just jaw-droppingly gorgeous! I love the colors and the mix of furniture. It looks cozy, serene, clean, and very livable. I would imagine once all of your windows are open during the day, the dark walls fade away. What a great eye you have for color and style!

Do send your newly done baby room photos to AT's OhDeeDo, so we can see!

A few years back I stayed in Chiiori, Alex Kerr's 300 year old minka in the Iya Valley of Shikoku. It was a wonderful, peaceful experience. This reminds of that, although much bigger than the farmhouse, which was only 2 big rooms, open to the elements on one side in the summer.
Just looking at the photos makes me think about all that I live with and don't need.

In the winter, I take my kids to the Paramus store every couple of weeks for the day. We stroll around and they play with the kid stations in the store, then we eat lunch and they play for a few hours in the play area in the cafeteria while I watch them, then we stroll some more. They always get a stuffed toy while we're there (they are so cheap), and then my husband meets us for dinner after he gets off work (10 minutes away). We have dinner, we stroll some more and decide what we're going to get or just talk about ideas for a project, and on the 45 minute drive home the kids fall asleep for the night.

And then 3 days later, they usually come down with some kind of cold. But boy, we had fun!

I bought one of these for my niece when she was 11, and it was very difficult to sew with. It jumped all over the table even with the stabilizer feet set, and the stitches were really kludgey. We made her a bag, but I don't think she's used it since. I would recommend a real sewing machine - something really simple. Would also teach hand sewing, for creative benders when adult supervision is not available. I sewed all my barbie's clothes by hand when I was 7, alone in my room.

I would pick a color out of the bricks - a color that's not dominant. Without seeing the bricks up close, I'd guess the darkest ones are dark grey? That was my first reaction. If you don't like grey, see if there's something else in there. A yellow, a green tone, etc. It would look really sleek and modern in dark grey, though, in my opinion.

We went down to a one income household last year, when I had twins, so there's not much more fat to trim.

But, I am still looking for ways to save more. I've switched to cloth diapers that I wash myself, hang laundry to dry, and buy in bulk and locally to cut back on our food bills. Luckily we live in the country outside of NYC, where pick-your-own farms are all around us. We're also planning to plant a garden and fruit trees on our property next spring to increase our self-sufficiency.

I've drooled over this for months! Please enter me!

I have a pair of Baby Bjorns for my twins. We never used the toy bar, the bouncy seat was enough entertainment. It was fantastic, by far and away the thing that saved my life trying to care for them when they were tiny babies. They loved the bouncing movement and I could bounce both with one foot. My son was colicky and it was often the only thing that would calm his crying jags. Also a lifesaver through those first few colds when they couldn't sleep laying down for nights on end. They stopped using them around 6 or 7 months, but now they are 13 months and I just pulled them out again last week and they LOVE climbing into them and sitting and bouncing themselves.