Crate Project

I have had a crate sitting in my bathroom for months. I had many plans for it when I bought it, but it just ended up being my toilet paper holder (I like to buy the big packs of TP and then I have nowhere to store them....).

Last week I finally decided to buy some sandpaper and figure out what I was going to transform it into. I had a can of stain that had been sitting in my garage for three years and some stencils in a box of old wedding supplies from a year ago, so that was a solid start.

The whole crate was sanded down carefully with a medium grit sandpaper. After that, I applied the Mahogany stain with a brush and let it dry completely overnight.

The next day. I mixed up some green acrylic paint and tried to use a brush to apply it over the stencil. That was an epic fail. The paint kept pooling under the edges of the pattern and created a smudged mess no matter how little I applied, so I needed a Plan B.

Luckily, I had bought some paint pens the day earlier with a different purpose in mind, but I needed something a little easier to control. I traced the edge of the stencil and filled it in, then lifted the stencil and evened out the lines.

After a quick spray with a high gloss sealer, it was complete!! It still sits in my bathroom full of toilet paper, but it looks a lot less sad now that it's all prettied up :)

My First Pallet Project

I told Bryan to start saving pallets at work about two years ago. Once we accumulated a few, he told me he wasn't bringing home any more until I did something with the ones I had!

It took me a while to find the desire to make something out of them. I had lots of ideas, it was deciding what one to follow through with and where to put the piece that delayed everything.

To be honest, this was supposed to be a blue pallet with white perching birds. My mind changed every hour with what I wanted the finished product to look like and I really should have just stayed away from Pinterest.

I'm pretty happy with the final product though.

I sanded the entire thing, front and back. Not sure if that was necessary but I didn't want to finish everything and regret not having done it in the first place. I used a hand sander, only because that was all I had. 

Make sure you wear your good pants and get them SUPER dirty. Clearly I wasn't as prepared for this project as I thought I was.

2-in-1 spray paint primer. I sprayed a couple of coats and wiped them down to even out the coverage and make some wipe marks around the edges. Then it sat to dry overnight.

I found some acrylic paint and sketched the heart out in pencil before painting it.

This step has been what has prevented me from doing these signs in the past. I didn't have any fancy equipment to print my letters out on, so painting them neatly by hand seemed impossible (especially for a lefty). The tracing method looked like my best bet and I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to see the imprint in the wood and follow it with my paint pen.

Look closely!!

Another mention of my ill-preparedness... I forgot paint brushes. For real. Luckily a paint pen from an old bag of wedding supplies saved the day and I think I'll be using them from now on. 

After some light sanding of the heart, painting was complete!

Added some twine to the top, fixed some of the lettering, and it was done. Can't wait to finish the new master bedroom and find a spot for it!

My "Morning Person" Transition

I have been a night owl for as long as I can remember. Falling asleep close to midnight and hitting snooze ten times in the morning is the norm for me. I sleep like a rock once I get there, but falling asleep and waking up is tough.

Luckily I married an early riser who doesn't mind greeting the mornings with a smile. He brings me out of my morning funk pretty regularly which I'm grateful for... and a little jealous to be honest.

Why can't I wake up eager to start my day? What can I do to fall asleep more easily (preferably before midnight)? What can I do to get a BETTER sleep and feel more rested?

Even after starting to take better care of myself, I still struggle with the beginning and end of my days, which some would argue are the most important parts. So, I have made it my goal this month to become a MORNING PERSON!

How I'm going to accomplish that:

1. Research. Figure out what is working for other people and try to find something that you think might work for you.

I have started reading "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod, which is going to help immensely with my self discipline. I'm about 1/4 of the way through and already finding my mornings far more productive. Once we have established our Fall regimens it will be a lot easier to stick with my own.

2. Unplug. I used to think that scrolling through Facebook and watching The Food Network or Dateline was what I needed to fall asleep. On the contrary, it was what kept me awake. During a brief period of insomnia in University, I learned from a counsellor that when it came to my "sleeping" area, the less I did the better to encourage restful sleep. Unfortunately for me, my sleeping area was also my kitchen, living room, and study area, so sleep was tough to come by back then.

Currently we do have a TV in our bedroom, and I don't plan to change that, but I'm consciously making the choice to turn it off at a decent hour and get used to falling asleep to silence rather than background chatter and flashing lights.

I find this is helping with my quality of sleep as well. Ever fall asleep with the on and wake up feeling like you just ran a marathon? Like you are more exhausted than you were when you went to bed in the first place? You can blame your TV for that.

3. Stay organized. There is nothing worse than waking up early and still not having enough time in the morning. Trying to cram in a workout, shower, meal prep, pet care, etc all before work might not work well every day. I try to pack my lunch the day before, take out my uniform (or have a general idea of where it is located), I stick to 25-30 minute workouts in the AM with any extra activity pushed until later in the day, and any once-daily animal treatments are done at night when I have more flexibility. Sometimes I'll even shower the night before to save time.

4. DO something. Before I started caring about how I felt or treated my body, my mornings consisted of sleeping until the last possible moment before I HAD to get out of bed (about 30mins before having to leave for work), feeding the pets and letting them outside, changing/showering, doing my make-up in the drive-thru while I waited for my greasy breakfast sandwich and coffee, and arriving to work without a minute to spare.

That would set the tone for the entire day - frantic, disorganized, and unproductive.

Now that I'm forcing myself to complete a morning workout 6/7 days a week, I HAVE to get my ass out of bed earlier and I need to have a routine established to make everything work. Waking up with a purpose and completing that workout each day has done crazy things to my energy levels and general alertness. I used to be one of those people who thought every moment of sleep was precious and if I spent my mornings sweating it would just make me tired for the rest of the day.

Nope, total opposite outcome.

5. Have energy, no matter what. I just read about this concept today in "The Miracle Morning". Your mind is a wonderful and mysterious thing. If you go to bed thinking that you have to get up in 'X' hours and that you're going to be exhausted all day as a result, guaranteed that is going to be the first thing you think about when you wake up (I know for me it is) and the one thought that you will carry with you through the entire day. Try waking up with a different mindset and telling yourself that you had an incredibly restful and rejuvenating sleep, regardless of length, and see how you feel.

6. STOP HITTING SNOOZE. This is a tough one for me. I will literally spend 45mins hitting snooze through what is supposed to be the most productive part of my day and instead spend it sleeping in brief, interrupted 4-minute pockets. Stupid, right? Do I really think that I am getting more rest through all that? I'm not, and neither is my husband.

Every person is different, so these are the strategies that I think will work the best for me and my schedule.

Try a few out and see what works best for you!