Cheap Projects & Potty Chairs.
Important matters of business today. Very important. As every day, really. After all, baking bread, redecorating, and potty training is how the West was won - wasn't it?
Nevermind.
Let's start with this exciting project:
Please don't judge me for not having curtains up yet. They're $20 a panel! And I need four! It's ridiculous.
Also, please don't judge me for my bare walls in the dining room.
a) I have no art. Which is on my list of goals - start collecting!
b) The outside walls of the house are cement. CEMENT, PEOPLE. It makes hanging impossible.
I am so happy to finally have a home for the growing piles of Tolkien biographies and Lord of the Rings commentaries that has started to stack up on our bedroom floor. They had found temporary shelter behind the door, where they could be hidden from the eyes of company, but I think they'll be much happier on the shelf. Despite my seemingly convincing words, Stuart continues to collect books on Middle Earth and the extra shelf space is serving us well.
Remember A Severe Mercy? My stomach lurches into my throat and my eyes well with tears just seeing it. I love that book. It also includes my favorite poem of all time.
And How the Scots Invented the Modern World? Well, this is a new purchase. For a real flashback on the blog, read the post about how a Scot & a Cowgirl came to be.
And yes, the bookshelf is made out of a door.
A door we found in our attic. It was broken and rejected. My favorite type of item to repurpose. The wood for the shelves and frame was salvaged out of a pile of scraps that (I'm assuming) the last tenant left in the backyard. The only purchase made for the project was the .98 cents I spent on the screws. Thankfully, I still had some Annie Sloan chalk paint leftover from refurnishing this piece, that matched the door well enough - and it's the perfect type of paint for such a rustic project.
Georgia helped. Obviously.
And why does she not have a diaper on, you ask?
What a great question. That leads me to the second highlight of this post.
The rascal done got herself potty-trained, people.
She basically hasn't worn underwear or pants for five days. Just to ensure the success of our ambitious venture.
Last week, I'd finally had enough. I went to Target, used our last remaining gift cards to buy her some Rapunzel underwear (take that, Dang Dave!), and that was it. I made a vow to myself - no more diapers (except for at bedtime). I'd tried this before, mind you. Remember?
We proceeded to spend the next three days hovering around her potty chair. It was a pretty tedious weekend.
Yes, I've kept it in my living room. And my kitchen. And the bedroom. And the hallway. And anywhere else she decides to spend a prolonged period of time. Including our friends Casie and Andrew's house when we went for dinner. The potty chair is our new BFF.
Here was our tactic:
1. Have the potty available for immediate access
2. Be naked for immediate access once she had to go
3. Get three M&Ms per successful use
And it worked! It was exhausting for me, having to watch her very carefully those first few days to recognize when I needed to convince her to sit down (you know, the crossing the legs and squirming kind of gave it away...) but by the end of the second day, she began to take the lead and sit on her own.
Didn't take long for girlfriend to figure out that peepee meant M&Ms.
This may be too much information, but she even went poo on it this morning. I was ecstatic!
She was mortified.
Regardless, the worst is behind us. We're in our big girl underwear now!
...
That was a long explanation about why she was painting without pants on, wasn't it?
By the way, I looked up a bookshelf almost exactly like this a few weeks ago on Etsy. It sold for $450.
Umm. Seriously?! For an old door and some wood?
.98 cents sounds better to me. And Dang Dave.