New craft area!

Since we finished the family room back in September, I've been searching for the right desk for the office/craft area.  The one we had obviously wasn't right.

We did eventually use a 6' folding table, but that gave me no storage and Curtis hated looking at all my scrapbooking and crafting supplies all the time!

I checked Craigslist and the FB buy/sell/trade pages quite often, but never did find anything cheap enough or pretty enough.  One day, Curtis called me and asked if I wanted my parents' old desk - it had been sitting in a shed for over 2 years and Bret was getting ready to throw it out.  Of course I wanted it - but only if I could paint it.  So I did and I LOVE it.

So much storage!  I actually have a rolling cart and my sewing machine in the door cupboard.  I can't fit all my stuff in the desk, but at least I don't have to run downstairs every single time I do something!

There's plenty of room for my Silhouette to sit on the desk - it's actually gotten used a lot more in the week that I've had the new desk.

The actual painting of the desk wasn't too bad - I read lots of blog posts and figured out how to do it. I discovered Zinsser Cover Stain primer and that made the whole process much easier - I didn't have to sand it at all!  Just two coats of primer, two coats of semi-gloss latex paint and two coats of water-based polyurethane.  Curtis is finally starting to understand...he was the one that suggested painting it turquoise :)  Who wants to live with ugly old oak?  :)

A little late...

...but here are a few Christmas photos any way.  I've been having blogger issues (sometimes when I upload pics, add one, and then go back to add more, the rest have disappeared.  Any one know what to do?) and things have been busy!  I've been working on my year-long menu plan and getting those grocery lists typed out, playing with my Silhouette, and re-painting an old desk from my parents' house.  

Lane and Katy have really been enjoying their Christmas presents.  I think the favorite right now is Duplos - both kids love to play with them, and since we have plenty, they can usually play without fighting!

We've all been sick with sore throats, headaches, and coughs.  I think we're finally on the mend!  Lane still has a cough and Katy is still teething, but we finally feel pretty much normal.

We finally decided to sell our bedroom set and it sold pretty quickly!  We've had a log/rustic bedroom set since Louisville - while I like the look, it pretty much locked me into living with camouflage and hunting decor for the rest of my life.  We got almost what we paid out of it, so I'm pretty happy about that!  Curtis is going to make a headboard, I'm going to repaint his dresser, and my dresser is going to be this huge not-so-pretty-to-look-at dresser that we got from my great-aunt Helen a few years ago.  It's going to fill up the whole closet, but it has to be hidden :)  We want our bedroom to feel as uncluttered as possible, and 2 dressers just won't fit right!  Now I just have to wait for Curtis to finish a little drywall - then I get to paint and pick out new bedding and nightstands.  So much fun!

Katy has been talking a little bit more - saying words like "string cheese", "stuck", "ball", "balloon", and "green".  I really hope that she starts talking earlier than Lane did!

Lane is really glad to be back at preschool after Christmas break.  He missed his friends!  It seems that every one of his friends got some Cars stuff for Christmas - so they've all been bringing their stuff to preschool and playing with Lightning McQueen and Mater everyday!  Lane also says silly stuff - just the way he says things now seems more grown-up.  He actually used the phrase "I tend to do that" yesterday!  He also feels the need to explain things more - I asked him who his friends are.  "Hmmm...Miles.  Oh yeah, and Braden.  You know, the one who belongs to Kara and Luke and Brad."  Yes, Lane, I remember who Braden belongs to ;)

Hopefully I'll get over my laziness and get back to sharing more pictures soon!  (Sorry, Grandma, for not updating more!)