Who is the Random Mommy?

I am Melissa. I am in my early 30's and live in the Pacific Northwest with my dear husband, Rob, and two cute boys, Chandler (6) and Lincoln (2.5).

I love to knit, crochet, sew, take photos, watch sports (hate soccer), read books (Twilight, Harry Potter and Millennium Series are the recent favorites), politics (hard core Republican/a "crazy" Tea Party Member).

I love to sing, and I do semi-professionally in Portland's Singing Christmas Tree. I've done it 9 years and in 2011, it will be my 10th season! I love it and the fellowship it brings. I've met some amazing people in the TREE choir. They have helped me through many trials in my life (especially when my Dad passed away in 2006). I also love to teach Sunday School for Chandler's age at our Church (Lutheran), and am active there.

Rob is in his 3rd year of school for Electronic Engineering Technology/Electrical Engineering. He goes to school at night and also works full time for my family's natural food brokerage. I work as a Webmaster and work with Retail level promotions. It's fun and works well with the mommy schedule.

Chandler had surgery on June 7, 2010 for a Tethered Spinal Cord at Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital. His surgeon, Dr. Monica Wheby, was able to cut the tether and he was able to go home the next day. As a form of physical therapy he is in Taekwondo at Family Kicks Martial Arts. When he began in July, about 1 month post-op, he had awful balance, his gait was akward, he couldn't bunny hop. Now 6+months later, his range of motion in his legs has improved dramatically, he can bunny hop and jump, he can balance on 1 leg for 5+seconds, and his run is faster and less spastic looking. Master Null has really been a true blessing for Chandler and our family!

Lincoln is very different from Chandler (don't they always say that?), and is very active. He climbs up things, is much more rougher, has a thick skull (yes, we do know this), and is a lover! He's a late talker, just like big brother, and is in speech therapy as well. He's not nearly as severe as Chandler (who has Apraxia of Speech), but we started ST early with Linc, just in case.

For Me, this blog began as random musings, and such of the family, but it will take a new meaning as a way for me to loose the 150 lb that I need to loose. Doing Weight Watchers and exercising are the ways I am tackling the goal. Starting weight: 331.2 on January 3, 2011. First goal is to loose 60 by Lincoln's 3rd birthday at the end of June. It's aggressive, but it needs to happen.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, please follow my journey, it will help keep me accountable! :)

A summer catch up...

Life has been pretty busy. With Rob finishing school for the summer (yay) and enjoying the summer time, it's been fun and busy.

We've made a couple trips to the lake, which has been nice. The one trip we took, it was 100 degrees with ZERO wind. It sucked! The boys were hot, Lincoln was too hot he was getting sick. The only way for him to sleep was driving around to cool him down then sleep with Rob. Poor bug. Chandler slept on the floor of the living room, doing it old skool like his mom and TT! :) Lot of fun. Then he had one of his BFF's come up with his family to play. It was great. And even Kevin and Mary came too. It was a great weekend at the cabin and I know Dad would be proud to see such fun being had by all.

Lincoln is a movin' fool. Not walking but moving in every other which way! It's so cute. We just found out that he loves Blue's Clues! He's sitting in his high chair and dances when they sing! It's a riot. Chandler's been on this BC band wagon for a week or so and it's so cute!

Chandler also is now addicted to Dad's Xbox. He's got the Batman Lego game and is in love with the game. It's all he asks about day and night! It's cute, but annoying! He has to clean up his toys and do his 30 minutes of homework, which is working on ABC's and 123's. He loves it and asks to do his home work. I am so thrilled he loves it so much.

Which brings us to Preschool! He's starting St. Andrew Lutheran Preschool in a few weeks. It will be nice to get back into that routine. He's so excited to see Bryan at school, he's been asking to see him for a while. Even when we'd go to story time at church, he'd wonder if he'd be there. Too cute!

I am actually working on super hero capes for the boys to play with at school. They have plenty of dress up stuff for girls, just not enough boys, so a bit of Batman, Superman, Flash & Green Lantern will man it up a bit! :)

I'll post some pics of that soon. In the mean time, here are a couple from our professional shots in August (that we won at a school auction).

How to make a scoreboard headboard!

By request, here are step by step instructions on how we made Chandler Field! Total size is 55" wide by 48" tall by 1.5" deep. Perfect for a full size bed. Post pictures when you are done, and if you have questions, just ask! I'd be happy to help!

Materials:

3/4" plywood cut to 48" X 24" (24" is min. but I think I'd do 30" next time)
2-4' long pieces of 1x4
2-4' long pieces of 1x6
10 1" wood screws
Additional wood screws for attaching to wall
Chalkboard paint (or plain black paint if you don't want to be able to draw on it)
Green paint (we used the color of his room, so it was just the extra)
White acrylic paint (from Michael's) the craft kind
1" foam paint brushes for the acrylic paint (get a few, you never know when they break)
3" letters for the "home, away, qtr" They are vinyl meant for boat registrations, find at sporting goods stores.
6" Wood letters to name the Field, find at Michael's or Joanne's.
Wood glue for letters

Tools:
Drill & bits for screws
Sand paper
Blue painters tape in 1"
Paint supplies
Heavy weight, grips, blocks to hold letters in position while gluing.


How To:

Take one each of the 1x4 and 1x6 and stack them with the one side flush to each other, with the 1x6 is on the bottom. Screw them together using 3 screws places evenly along the 4' length (see green circles). Repeat for other post.

Sand and wipe off dust of all wood. You only need to sand the parts you will be painting.

Paint the black first, so it can be dried first. Paint at least 2 coats, so it's nice and black.

Paint the green posts, you will paint the 1x4 and 1x6 the tops & sides, look at picture for a guide of how it will be assembled so you don't have to waste paint (blue numbers).
Let dry, probably overnight. Make sure black is really dry before taping off!

For the lines:
Measure up from the bottom of the board 16" and mark the line.Then measure from the top down 7.5" and mark the line. Do this across the board. Take 2 pieces of 1" painters tape and follow the lines across the top (this makes the top line under the name)

Now measure from the left 15" below where the line will be and mark it. Then mark 16" from the left. Place the right side of the 1" tape on the 15" mark, then place the left side of the tape on the 16" mark. Making a 1" black stripe to be painted. See photo for reference measurements in red. Repeat for the right side.

Using white paint, paint the taped off areas with a foam brush. You will do a few coats, but it doesn't take long for the paint to dry. While waiting, place letters on newspaper and paint the letters, again will need 2 coats. Let dry.

Once all the white is dry, you can apply the 3" boat letters. Place them as you want, I just made a line with 1" paint tape and placed them all on the same line. Easy.

Now take the white letters and figure out your spacing for the name of the field. Glue them on with the wood glue. Place books, heavy objects on them so they don't move. Let dry.

Assembly:
Using the 4 remaining wood screws, attach the board to the posts, see picture for guide.
Attach to wall using appropriate anchors, or you can attach to a Hollywood style bed frame.