Entertainment Center Redone

WARNING: You are about to read about my obsessive baby proofing habbit. The one I am not proud of but I haven't figured out how to handle the trouble that these little kids get into. I am always thinking up new ways to limit their freedom of exploration. This time it was their access to the Entertainment Center which has been driving me crazy for months and I finally had enough and did something about it.

But First a small story: I went to try and find an old picture of our entertainment center and this is the first one I found. I took this picture because the scene was so pathetic that I thought we'd have fun looking back on it in a few years. It was only a month ago though (or whenever superbowl sunday was) so I'm still a little embarrassed by it and therefore will have to explain the white trashness that is present. We don't have cable and never have had any sort of TV service since we've been married but for some reason John decided he wanted to watch the superbowl. So we borrowed his brother Kenney's bunny ears and hooked them up. Then to make things worse, he decided that chips and dip was a good enough dinner and that we should let the kids eat it in the living room. I don't think I was feeling good that day so I just let it be. The saddest part of this scene is the part you can't see... Vivian's not wearing pants or a diaper. I think it had to do with a rash or something but totally white trash.

Anyways... This has been our entertainment center for most of our marraige. On the bottom is two cupboards on either die of a drawer that has a little shelf above it and to the side of the TV is a little cubby that used to have a couple shelves in it and before we got Michael, we had the stereo and VCR there.

We got it from Walmart when we moved to Stockton 4 months after we got married. At first we stored stuff in the bottom then when we got Michael a few months later we emptied them and let him climb in and out of the cupboards. At one point we decided we wanted to put stuff in it again so we just added childproof locks to the doors and the drawer. (As mentioned above: I baby proof anything I can [to the extreme] to avoid unecesary messes or struggles.) That lasted for quite awhile.

But a few months ago, He got through those so we took everything out including the drawer itself because he's a lot bigger now and we don't want him or Vivian getting hurt. Once again, they had access to the cupboards (I was quite surprised that he still fit inside them). Vivian learned soon enough how to climb in by herself. This made me a little uneasy fearing that Michael would try and shut her in there or that there would be smashed fingers and lots of crying. But I was able to handle it.

Michael has also always climbed in the cubby on the side of the TV. Now he's even tall enough to where if he stands on that shelf he can reach over the top and play with whatever is up there, expecially pushing videos and DVDs into the VCR. But I was able to handle it... mostly

One thing Michael loves to do now is to sit there while he's watching a movie and alternate banging the doors shut. This was kind of a problem because it would wake Vivian up from her naps, and that brings on a cranky and sick child. But I was able to handle it... somewhat.

Also by climbing in the cubby he could reach through the holes in the back and play with the cords. Often times it would mess up the system which meant no TV for the rest of the day. I tried to handle it. (but it's really annoying when he gets ahold of the sensor bar for the Wii and wraps it thru the cupboard handle like 50 times.)

Michael has always been allowed to turn on/off the TV. It gives him a small amount of responsibility and I didn't mind it. He used to turn it on and off durring play time when he was younger but I didn't mind, because it was never when we were watching anything. At the begining of the year when we started watching Malacai, he learned pretty quick where that power button was and by him doing it (being not much older than her) gave Vivian enough strength to do it too (she had tried several times but her fingers were just too small and petite). So then began the whole game of turning it on and off. But these two little ones thought it was the funniest thing to do it while we were watching a movie. It was rarely both of them at the same time. It was usually when 2 kids were intent on the screen, the other one would turn it off and then the 2 that were watching it would scream and yell and cry because they couldn't watch their movie. This one I could NOT handle.

So I did this....

We turned the entertanment center around and nailed cardboard to the back so that it would be smooth and they wouldn't try to sit in the shelves or play with the handles anymore. Then I made a fitted cover out of a huge piece of fabric I had laying around. There is like 10 inches tucked under the bottom of it. And then of course we put the TV, DVD/VCD, and the Wii on top of it all. We also switched TV's and the power button is on the top now. I can reach it perfectly without tip toes just by reaching all the way up. John did not want to do this but he does prefer TV's that are higher up so now that it's done, he doesn't mind at all. I love it because...

No more cupboards banging or smashing fingers. No more climbing. No more cords and No more access to the power button! They can still get to the VCR player if they pull up something to stand on, but it's pretty much left alone now. The only thing I didn't accomplish at the same time was blocking the fireplace off. Which now that they don't have access to the entertainment center has been their new focus of trouble. However I found out how to block that off too finally. (I just put 6 strips of packing tape accross the glass doors and tucked the edges of the tape into the crack so they can't just grab them and pull it off.)

Since I was taking pictures of our new TV Stand I thought I would take the opportunity to snap a few pictures of our Living room decorations. Here is our Mantel with John's Lighthouses, a wooden model of the Oakland Temple that my mom designed for all the YW to make when I was a laurel, and one of the corsages from our wedding on the far left. The blocks behind the temple say "families are forever" and I just made those a couple months ago at our wards Super Saturday. Then the pictures of Jesus and the Temple are always nice to look at.

Here is one of the arrangments of Random frames I have up. Yes I know one of them is Empty. I figured I would at least get it up there and then I could put something in it later. (It's been 9 or more months and it's still not done, oh well)
Here is the other arrangement I have except this one isn't semetrical and there is one that was already knocked off.
Here is the oldest thing I own. I should get more kistory on it but this is the only thing I wanted after my grandma passed away in February. I remember it being on my Great Grandma's coffee table when I was a little girl. We loved putting marbles or whatever in the scale to watch it tip. Plus I now have a personal interest in scales but I'll save that for another post. (And yes, I know I should put candle sticks in the candle holders.)
Here is the big family picture of us that is on my main blog.

I need to take more pictures of the actual rooms before we move but I'm waiting for a time when it's clean, lol. Anyways, I hope you've endured my detailed description of my TV troubles.

Want Something?

Here's another fun blog game. I've seen this a couple times and so I figure I better pass it on instead of just collecting gifts. I'm excited to see what the second one will be. The first one was a fun necklace. It should be fun.

The first THREE people to respond to this post will get something made by me. My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. I don't even know what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first three people who do the same on your blog. The first three people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did, will win a homemade gift! It may not be great, but it will be fun!

Oh, and be sure to leave your address so I can send you the gift and then you can post a picture of what you win when you get it.

I made a dress!!!!!

My mother is this master seamstress. She grew up making her own clothes and she made all of our clothes when we were younger too. I mean you name it, she can make it especially if there is fabric involved. She made all of our barbie clothes too and she is an expert quilter. She made all of our prom dresses and our wedding dresses for us. She was so good that you could describe what you wanted and she would go get a few different patterns and mold them together until she had your dream dress. I had to learn this the hard way because the first formal dress I had her make I didn't do that, I just chose a pattern that was modest, picked out fabric and it turned out to be a disaster on me. From then on, I had to really think about my body shape and what would look good and what wouldn't and that made all the difference.
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Growing up with this amazing women I grew a deep love for crafts and needlework. Unfortunately the talent isn't genetic. I've made things here and there that turned out pretty good, but usually she is right there with me every step of the way.
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Before I got married she also made me a temple dress. It was the same pattern as one of my Grandma's dresses that we would always dress up in and use for costumes at halloween. She adjusted the pattern to be temple appropriate by raising the neckline a little but still made it look cute on me. She also designed it so that I would be able to wear it for the first few months of pregnancy for whenever that should occur. I loved it and it was a pretty comfortable too... for the first few months.
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About 6 months into the marraige I went to Orlando, FL with my sister's and we decided to check out the Temple. It was on that trip that I realized I no longer fit into this beautiful temple dress. The dress itself was alright but the sleeves had no give and I couldn't get it off by myself. I figured, OK, easy fix, just take off the sleeves and replace them with stretchy fabric. Well... I love my mom but sometimes she doesn't make time for every little project so it sat there for months and months and months. In the mean time I got pregnant, had a baby, nursed her and the few times we did go to the temple, I wore one of my Grandma's old temple dresses. However that one wasn't designed for my body.
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One day we finally decided to tackle the sleeves on the other dress. She had me remove them and then try on the dress again. Well... I got it on.... but... ummm... it didn't look cute anymore. To say the least, I continued to wear my Grandma's dress. But then the sleeves on that one started to get tighter and tighter. (Why do all my dresses keep shrinking?)
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In January, there was a ward temple trip and John and I were pretty excited to go with people we knew because we usually just go by ourselves and squeeze it in where we can. About a week before the trip I decided it would be super cool if I had a new temple dress to wear since I would be going with people I knew. My mom was on this huge deadline though so I knew if it was going to happen, I would have to do it myself.
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I went to JoAnns picked out a pattern that I would not have to adjust (remember my first formal where I did that, It didn't turn out that pretty) except for the sleeve and skirt length. And then I went and got some white, double knit fabric that would be nice and stretchy. (I don't forsee myself gaining any more wait except if I were to be pregnant again but I still wanted to make it comfy and flexible.)
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The lady that cut the fabric for me saw my stressed expression. When I told her this would be my first experience making a dress by myself, she said not to stress about it. The important thing is to have fun and if I make a mistake, I can unpick and re-do it. So that made me feel better... Until I got home and realized the hard part wasn't in the sewing it together. It was in the fitting it and cutting it out part. I stared at it for a couple days and wanted to run to my mommy so badly. But I really did want to believe in myself and tackle this project so that in the future I could make my own dresses and dresses for Vivian too.
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I cut out the pattern and tried to fit it to me. I had John help me and he told me it was too small so I adjusted the pattern as needed to make sure it went around me and then I started sewing it together. The bust was designed so you just gather the stitches together so that was easy enough. I had some trouble figuring out the sleeves and my mom wasn't answering her phone so I just made it work. (Later she told me I was supposed to do the same thing as the bust, gather a few stiches on the top.) I got it put together and the neck line was a little too big. John suggested doing the same thing, gathering a few stiches in front. It totally worked.
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So here is my new temple dress.

(Yes, it's a little bagish looking, but that isn't the dresses fault.) I was so comfortable in the Temple the next day. I could lift up my arms and everything. There was only one thing wrong with it... I forgot pockets!!! I will be adding those in before our next visit to the temple. The biggest thing though is I am now more confident in my ability to do things for myself. I think I could make a few dresses for Vivian now.
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As for formal dresses for myself... I think I might need my mom's help because it is really hard to fit it to myself (John didn't really know how to help. It really wasn't too small and the whole dress turned out a bit big since I adjusted it for that. However I wouldn't call it a disaster like my first formal dress.) So I still need my mom's special ability to picture what I want and blend patterns together to make it work. But I think I should loose a few pounds before going through all that trouble.