Happy New Year! Today’s our last day of break, and we are squeezing out all the goodness we can. As much as the return to school routine will be good for our productivity and sense of normalcy, it has been so nice to be home and enjoy a more relaxed, slow schedule.

We’ve slowly switched our home back from Festive North Pole to Clean & Simple New Year mode which includes the usual January purging, rearranging, and taking on of mini projects (I painted the dining room this week). One of last month’s projects I never shared though was the book shelves I made for the end of Nella’s beds–a project I’m particularly proud of because I figured it out myself, with no help from the People Who Build Things in my life, even though it involved things I’m normally intimidated by like measuring and buying lumber. I always feel like the workers in Home Depot take one look at me in the lumber aisle and think, “Oh honey, you don’t belong here.” But I do! I wore a baseball cap and brought a drawing and pretended to calculate measurements while I was shopping for the right boards; and when I asked for help, they talked to me like I knew what I was doing!

After attempting cute wall displays of books in Nella’s room, we had to get rid of the wall shelves because A: they kept pulling out of the wall, even though we used anchors; and B: we didn’t really have the wall space for them. I had hung them on the sides of the twin beds, but the books got kicked in the night and–well, we tried. The books got moved to a giant basket that sat next to another giant basket of stuffed animals, but I still wanted some kind of book shelf. I love when children’s books are displayed because not only are the covers so beautiful, but books that are displayed get read more often. They’re so inviting! Because of the way Nella’s room is laid out, I envisioned some kind of low shelf on legs at the end of her bed but couldn’t find what I wanted anywhere. So I did some measurements, found some furniture legs on Amazon, bought some boards and built it myself.

I loved the finished product so much, I built another one for the other bed for perfect symmetry. So now there’s a shelf for all the books and a shelf for all the lovies.

Is it a little wonky and imperfect? Yes! But if you’re intimidated by perfect D.I.Y.s and are okay with a wonky little project that’s doable, this one’s for you.

The shelves are skinny enough that they don’t take up a lot of space and yet they fit so many books and lovies. Here’s what you’ll need. I measured and built these according to the measurements of Nella’s twin beds, but you could adjust the length for what you need. You can use any wood (even plywood for a really inexpensive project)–I went with oak. I had one 7.25 inch width board cut to 36 inches for the base, and then had a 5.5 inch width board cut into four pieces (two x 36 in., two x 8.75 in) for the sides.

MATERIALS
1 – 7.25 in width board cut to 36 inches
2 – 5.5 in width board cut to 36 inches
2 – 5.5 in width board cut to 8.75 inches
2 inch wood screws
Electric Drill/Screwdriver
4 Furniture Legs (I used these 4 in. ones from Amazon)
Fine Sandpaper
Spray Paint (I used white chalk spray paint)

I took a few pictures of the building process but accidentally deleted that camera card. However, it’s pretty self explanatory. I sat in my driveway and set up the “box”–base first, front and back boards in place second, and then the sides to complete it–and marked with a pencil where I wanted my screws to go. Using a drill bit slightly smaller than my screws, I drilled holes for the screws and then gradually attached boards and secured them with screws. Once the box structure was complete, I sanded any rough edges and added 3 coats of spray paint. When everything was dry. I positioned where I wanted the legs to go, marked with a pencil, drilled a small hole and then screwed the legs on. This is no HGTV instruction manual, but I promise if I can do it, you can too. See how it’s a little wonky? Character!

I draped some garland for a little color, and Voila!

Time to add the books…

…and the stuffed animals…

…the symmetry makes me so happy!

You can’t tell from the picture, but there’s probably 30-40 books in here.

And with the hodgepodge collection of baskets now gone, everything looks cleaner and there’s a little more space.

Hoping to tackle more simple projects like this this year and become a regular in the lumber aisle.

This post is sponsored by Amazon Devices & Services.

I’m not usually big on resolutions in January (I find myself more motivated to make them in August when school starts), but perhaps because we are entering a new decade, I’m feeling inspired to set a few goals or at least set myself up for success in continuing good habits I established this past year. Resolutions are so much easier to keep if we have supports in place, a plan for how we’re going to maintain them and some accountability for our goals. In 2020, I’m relying on Alexa to help out with this support and accountability. We continue to “get to know” our Alexa devices more through utilizing the services and skills she’s equipped with, and setting up an Alexa Skill Blueprint is the latest way she’s helping out in our home.

What’s a skill blueprint, you ask? An Alexa Skill Blueprint is a way for you to customize your Alexa experience by programming personalized Alexa skills and responses that fit your unique lifestyle and schedule. Basically, you fill in a template with a list of possible options until your unique skill is created. For example, to help support my wellness and workout goals in 2020, I programmed customized workouts for different days of the week. All I have to say is “Alexa, start my workout” and she turns into my personal trainer, following the template I set up and leading me through my workout. Any of the Alexa devices in our home will offer me my workout, but I usually use our Echo Show.

I set up my workouts with the Personal Trainer Alexa Skill Blueprint and customized everything, from the sound of the start-up and end timer I want Alexa to use for each rep to fun phrases I want her to tell me throughout the workout to keep me going. At any time of the day, I can ask Alexa to start my workout, and she’ll lead me through it: “Ready for bicep curls? Let’s go for 60 seconds.”

You can customize different workouts for different days, track your progress through Alexa throughout the week and pause for rest when you need it.

Alexa Skill Blueprints can assist with a lot of other New Year’s goals as well. Want to organize a chore chart? You can create a Blueprint for that too, choosing different chore lists for different kids and different days. You can even set reminders for the kids and set times for the reminder alerts as well as which Alexa device you want to announce the reminder.

What’s really been fun is watching our Alexa devices get smarter and smarter as we program them with our unique routines and information, making our schedules run smoother. I’m excited to enter 2020 with momentum and a little push from Alexa to continue to meet personal goals.

In the great debate of what’s better–Team Anticipation of Christmas Day or Team Actual Christmas Day, I always seem to find my answer in that little overlap–somewhere around 2 a.m. between the two teams–after we have tucked excited kids in bed, swept away the glittery piles of reindeer food from the driveway, eaten Santa’s cookies with a heap of leftover crumb evidence, sipped his milk half-gone, carefully filled the stockings and propped them up, wrapped “the last few presents” that turned out to be 17 oddly-shaped gifts, prepped the Christmas breakfast and cleaned the house so that the welcoming scene Christmas morning looks as storybook as possible.

 

 

That’s where I find my favorite moment, right before I finally crash just hours before everyone wakes up. I survey the scene and download the details, making note of what’s different, what I remember from past years, new things I love, what I know I’m going to miss…

This year…

Dash’s exuberant Santa Watch brought an electric joy that permeated our home Christmas Eve. The binoculars to the sky, the gasps over twinkling stars he was sure were Santa’s sleigh…

The constant check-ins on the Santa tracker and ecstatic reporting to the family. “He’s in Scotland! He’s in Scotland!” Dash hollered throughout the house as he ran to every room, showing us the map on Brett’s phone. My sister passionately played along from Michigan all day Christmas Eve, texting “Tell Dash he’s in Russia!” and calling to receive his newest report.

I tallied up so many mental notes of “This is the best” throughout the day, aware of how happy this all makes us, how sweet it is.

My dad and Gary spend the night every Christmas Eve. We watch the last of the Christmas movies by the fire–Christmas Vacation, White Christmas and The Family Stone–one right after another. My dad stays up to help Brett put together the big presents and assist me in the last of the wrapping; and again, I make note and download the details, aware that I will always remember sitting next to the fire with my dad on Christmas Eves, passing scissors and tape back and forth, listening to him question my love for The Family Stone because “all they do is fight” and “it’s too much madness, White Christmas is way better.” I think not.

And then morning comes and I wake up early without an alarm just to soak it all in one more time by myself. I light the fire and every last candle we own, make the coffee, turn on the music and wait for the first sounds of commotion from the kids.

They know not to come out until we’re ready. Their shared excitement is so big, there’s no room for bickering. In fact, they’re extra huggy and lovey and giggly as they wait, and I hope they’ll always remember the feeling of huddling together, anticipating what’s to come.

And then we give the all clear. “Okay! You can come out!” And they run, smiling, squealing, overstimulated by all there is to notice. The cookies are gone. The presents. The proof of reindeer. The maze of string trailing from the tree. I heard Dash gush, “This is the best day of my life” at one point. And I just sip my coffee and take it all in.

Christmas breakfast follows the presents. More coffee. Mimosas. Eggs and sticky buns and extra helpings because Christmas.

This year, I took a nap after the dust settled on Christmas day–an appropriate move for an almost 41-year-old to commemorate her 13th Christmas as a mom. I love it all so much.

Our Christmas miracle came in the form of cleaning up the morning mess and restoring the house to entertaining status for another wave of family Christmas evening. The fire was lit, the food laid out and the presents neatly tucked back under the tree, and Brett turned to me and asked, “How the hell did we do this?”

The kids endured a short wave of post Christmas sads before bed (“It’s all over!”) in which Brett scooped them all into a giant hug and we reminded them that nothing is over. Grateful to experience all of it, eager for a fresh start next year.

Hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday and excited to share more love with you in 2020.