I use a dressing table to dress in the morning and to get ready for bed at night. I use it to do my hair, put on makeup, get dressed etc. I have used one for quite a few years now and honestly would be quite lost without it. One of the side difficulties of moving our bedroom downstairs last spring was where my dressing table got moved too. It was moved into our bedroom under the window. The mirror I used to use with it would not work in the new location so after a bit of fussing I had come up with a small tri-fold mirror I put on top of my jewelry box. It was not ideal but it worked ok. Then it nearly caused a major problem. Devin lightly bumped my table one day and everything came crashing down everywhere. I was lucky nothing broke. I was informed that finding a better attached mirror solution needed to be a priority.

Here is the before photo of my very messy dressing table.

I wish I could say it was neat, organized and very pretty all the time but that would be a lie. It is a well loved and used piece of furniture.

For the last several months I have been looking at second-hand stores, Craigslist, antique stores and even furniture stores for a new dressing table or mirror. Most of them I did not like and would not fit the space I have available in the master bedroom for my dressing table. I also noticed that a lot of old dressing tables were missing mirrors. Then just this last week at our local Goodwill I found an ugly mirror with two drawers under it. I tested it out and on a table it would be just the right height for a dressing table mirror. A can of primer, white semi-gloss spray paint, and two new knobs later I had a pretty mirror for the top of my table. The best part was that I was able to screw it to the table from the back and secure it with a couple of brackets. Now a knock into my table might knock a few things over but most things will be secure.

And another of just the top…

My table it much neater and the whole space is brighter and easier to keep clean. I did lose my jewelry box so had to be creative about where to put that. I put my makeup in the two drawers just under the mirror, and my jewelry got moved into the top right hand drawer.

I am so pleased with my project and have already enjoyed the new space.

1. My ball makes a great substitute for a desk chair keeping me a lot more ergonomic and not hunching over.

2. My exercise ball is now in a safe and convenient place for me to use it for exercise and especially stretching.

3. People are less likely to sit in my chair and get on my computer now, not everyone likes to sit on the exercise ball.

4. I can bounce along to music or just bounce slightly on my ball while I am working on my computer.

5. I do not dread sitting at my computer to do things nearly as much.

6. I got to toss my desk chair that I despised out of my room and do not ever have to sit in it again.

7. My ball fit into the opening of my desk perfectly like it was meant to go there.

8. In just the last week my core and low back have already gotten stronger.

9. It is a lot more fun to sit on a ball than a chair. No one cares that I twitch and jiggle constantly nearly as much.

10. The chair pissed me off and the ball makes me happy.

The 1st day of September we went to the local fair at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds here in Monroe. My little brother Christopher was up as well though for some odd reason I do not have a single photo of him. Weird. Well I did find a photo of him from either before or after we went to the fair that day.

So the children’s friends came with us and here are some photos of them at the fair enjoying their treat. 

Mom thought this chainsaw sculpture was really neat so wanted a photo with it

Also in the middle of September I got a giant pile of wood chips delivered.

  This is the before photo. It took over a month to get the entire thing moved! Now nearly every single bed around my house it filled with wood chips. It is helping with the weeds though lots more need to be dug up under the several inches thick wood chips. I will plan on taking some photos when it is warmer and neater outside. The wind and the cold is not making it look pretty at all.

The kids started school and like a complete space-case I totally and completely forgot first day of school photos. Alaric is in his last year of Elementary school in 5th grade and while we were unsure at the beginning of the school year if we liked his teacher we are pleased with her now. Treanna is in 7th grade and has a couple of favorite teachers again this year but otherwise has all new teachers and it really doing well.  Here is the kids with their new to them laptops that they got from Dad just in time for school to start. They have to check them in and out and the priority is for school work but so far it has worked out great.

Near the end of the month we had a day at the Camp-O-Rama for the local boy scout council. This time both Devin and I went with Alaric for the day to the beautiful Camp Brinkley.  

We stayed through the closing campfire but I think the above were two of the best photos of the day. Alaric in the second one is doing a mountain bike race with his pack and this was his second go-around after a spectacular wipe-out the first time.

Then our boy turned 11 and here are some photos from his birthday.

His special A shaped breadstick.

Him and his cake!

I think that pretty much sums up September. I do know that in the middle of the month Alaric did the scouting for food at the local Fred Meyer’s and they all managed to collect a lot for the local food bank. Plus the kids had school photos which I will remember to scan and put up sometime. The only other significant event is that we had started attending church again and have been attending since then.

My handsome boy all dressed up and ready to go.

Just checking out the police car.

I do not have any photos from scout camp. However Devin and Alaric had a great time and Alaric is very sure he wants to continue in scouting now.

The front bed after I cleaned it out and moved the tree in the center from its previous place in the corner nearest the front door. It was growing sideways, it is much better looking now.

The very healthy oregano, with chives on its left. Unfortunately the basil and parsley really did not fair well. Some pretty petunias in the birdhouse box on the fence.

Our spiral of succulents. The top kettle was mothers and the rest were mine but empty.

Our extremely healthy and happy tomatoes. Seriously never had tomatoes ever do this well before. I think I have a combination of containers and sun in the right spots. You cannot quite see a really pretty planter box on the right hand side of the chairs.

This is my hanging basket out front, Mom helped choose things and planted them, they turned out VERY pretty.

We had the opportunity to purchase some strawberries recently and so purchased a rather large amount. I don’t know if I had ever seen a five gallon bucket of strawberries before. 

After we bagged it all up we had a total of 25 pint size bags for the freezer.

I have many photos to share especially of my garden and my dining room. My garden is very much a work in progress and makes me happier nearly every day. Today I weeded out my front garden bed and even moved a tree/bush to a better spot so it will be happier.

It will take me a while to catch up with everything that has been happening with me in the last several months, but the quick highlights include: rearranging the house, having my mother move in with us, working for the U.S. Census Bureau for a couple of months, revamping the garden with my mother, and grounding the children for their inappropriate use of texting on their cellphones.

While problem solving earlier in the month for Treanna we found out that since she lost her little CD player (or had it taken) she has had a more difficult time getting to sleep. So we let her borrow a boombox that was sitting doing nothing. She started sleeping a bit better almost immediately. Somehow, I am still not sure exactly how, Alaric conned her into letting him borrow the boombox and turning it up loud enough they could both hear it. Thus 2 children who start sleeping better at night.

Now that we are seriously evaluating everything Devin and I realized we had a nice little stereo system in our room that was literally a dust catcher. We just hardly ever turned it on. With the rearrangements we have a far easier time getting access to music we want than the children do. So we offered it to Treanna. So she redid her bedside table to make room for this and I helped her move it into her room.

Now so far today, the first day of spring break I have hardly seen my children. For the most part they have been going back into their rooms to do things in their. For the last hour the only thing I have heard at all from the children is the muted echoes of their stereos through closed doors. Quiet, solitude and possibly a glimpse of the future.

I have been a reader of Apartment Therapy for a few years now. I came really close to participating in the Spring Cure last year but could not decide what to do so I skipped it. Well this year because of a variety of circumstances I am going to participate. Mainly because if I don’t take some before and after pictures I might forget what all things were.

In the next 2 months (hopefully less) we are going to be drastically rearranging our entire house. The back room/computer room is going to end up being gutted even more than it has been. Our bedroom is going to be trimmed and streamlined and put into that room. I am also going to be emptying out my things from the upstairs bathroom which includes finding a new place for my dressing table. The dining room is going to be tweaked as we are still unhappy with how the storage has worked out in that room. The end result should be a much more livable arrangement.

The main purpose for this is that we are making room for my mother to come and live with us. We are very excited but we know that the decision was not easy for everyone. It is for the best but there is a lot of work involved in making this happen. I am proud of how much she has been already doing.

 Of course there is much more happening in my life but a start is a start for blogging again. I will be taking some “before” photos.

I have a deadline of a few weeks to make as much happen as possible because I am taking a temporary job for about 2 months.