Snow Day...Super sized

Today we got hit; hit hard by a major blizzard...or as my friend Suzanne said...a "snow-nami". Lots of wind, lots of snow. Mall of America closed; local gyms closed, everything closed.

It is 8pm now and the local meteorologist, Sven (someone who looks like he is 16, but knows his weather), said we so far have gotten 15.7 inches of snow (MSP international reported). So far=more snow to come. Sven poignantly says we will certainly get over 18 inches. Thanks Sven. Good to know we will get 2.3 more inches...jeez, might as well just be another 10.

The weather channel is referencing "snow-nados"-swirling wind and snow in the Twin Cities. Glad the meteorologists are having fun during all of this.

This is the view out our kitchen window

There is a street and pond out there somewhere-

Our backyard-there is a garden somewhere on the right of the picture. The stakes and fencing are a little over 2 feet high


So we were stuck inside ALL day today. Yes, we went stir crazy and got bored, but we tried our best to stay entertained. Of course we watched some Dora and the dog movie (101 Dalmatians), but we tried to stay sane with other activities.

We painted:



Painted empty wrapping paper rolls (Julia likes to march around the room with them):


Read LOTS of books:

Finished addressing Christmas cards:

Baked muffins (blueberry and pumpkin-two of Julia's favorites):

Of course we did other things like play blocks, playdoh, put together puzzles, played in Julia's play kitchen, played with her Lite Brite, played Mr and Mrs Potato head....and the list goes on. A full day inside with a toddler is A LOT of time to kill.

Hard to believe that this time last year we were here:


Sitting pool side, in 80 degree weather, enjoying fruity cocktails in beautiful St. Lucia. Ho, hum.

Inspired by an unusal source.

The other day, I was doing my usual Sunday coupon cutting and came across a coupon for this:

The picture on the coupon was much smaller and there were a variety of designs and colors, so I went to the Kleenex brand website to get a closer look. You are probably thinking "why is she going to a website for products you blow your nose into to look at a box of tissues on a coupon?" Well, I have been contemplating on what color to paint our guest bathroom. Right now Mike uses the bathroom as his own and shares it with Julia's bath toys and other baby/toddler bath related items. I wasn't sure what color to paint the bathroom or how to decorate it because eventually it will be Julia's bathroom when she gets older and I don't want to have to repaint it again.

When I saw this Kleenex Expressions Tissue Box (or oval), I immediately loved the colors. I like the grays with the greens and thought that a light gray color would be perfect to paint the bathroom walls with and then decorate with light green/lime and white accents and towels. This way it is still 'manly' for Mike right now and if Julia wants another color someday, like pink or purple towels those colors will go well with the light gray paint color. If she doesn't like the gray-well tough! We will make it work. It is odd to think about having to plan for her having her own bathroom, but I certainly don't want her stuff in my soon-to-be tranquil bathroom!

Master Bathroom Inspiration from a Friend

One of the moms in my MOPS group has inspired me...Nealy was one of the first moms I met at MOPS when I started. She is an awesome, caring mom with great style, superb culinary creations, great photography skills, and a nack for colors and decorating. Nealy and her hubby Kyle are similar to us in that they have a toddler who reins in the house, but they are also doing some home redecorating. They recently redecorated their small powder room and I just LOVE the colors! I love the colors so much that I am "stealing" some of the color schemes and incorporating them into our master bathroom decorating plan. Read here about Nealy's bathroom re-do. Here are some pictures I 'borrowed' from her blog to inspire me:

Before (oddly, our bathroom is a similar color right now):

After:

I LOVE the bluish-gray wall color and the oval mirror. We have a double vanity in our bathroom, so I was thinking of doing two oval mirrors painted with white trim (to match the doors and keep the maple cabinet color). Oddly, we have the same lighting fixtures as Nealy's above already in our bathroom.

It was just all meant to be!

Yes, this will probably happen in our bathroom too (those innocent little toddler gals)

This is actually from Nealy's parent's bathroom. I just love this natural, rock decor for the corner of our standing shower or on the ledge of our soaking tub.

More inspirations...coming soon!