Three Things Thursday

1. Chalk Paint

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know what chalk paint is. It basically turns any old piece of furniture into...a much better looking piece of old furniture. We recently finished our basement, and we needed some side tables, but we didn't have a lot of money to spend, so I decided to try my hand at refinishing some cast offs I found through an online garage sale. We got large, solid wood end tables for $50, but I wasn't a fan of the oak color. I did some research online and quickly discovered that chalk paint is hella expensive. Fortunately, I found a magical powder on amazon for $20 that turns any can of flat latex paint into chalk paint. You simply add one cup for every gallon, stir, and voila....chalk paint that doesn't break the bank. I painted the end tables white and did some distressing. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out:

And why stop at end tables?

I found 2 of these mini chairs on the same site for $5 for the pair and chalk painted them a pale pink for Rory. Add a $10 Lack table from Ikea, and she has the perfect spot for her future tea parties.

I'm also in the process of painting our old Expedit bookcase to use as toy storage in the basement and an antique dresser for our bedroom that I found on Craigslist. Let's just hope chalk paint doesn't go out of style anytime soon.

2. Babysitting Swaps

We are very lucky to have awesome neighbors. They are some of the kindest, most helpful people I have ever met. When we brought Rory home from the hospital, they brought us several delicious meals and Amanda helped me a lot with breastfeeding in the beginning. She stays at home with her three boys, so we see each other quite often. A few months ago, we started a babysitting swap every few weeks. Here's how it works: On Friday night, Marcos and I go out to dinner/shopping/out for a drink and Amanda stays with Rory. On Saturday night we return the favor, and I stay with the boys while she and her husband go out for a few hours. It's the perfect arrangement because I trust her 100% and we don't have to shell out $50 to have a few hours of alone time. We paid $80 for three hours of babysitting in San Francisco...and Rory was asleep the whole time! I highly recommend making a similar arrangement with you neighbors/friends who also have kids.

3. Meal Planning

I've mentioned before what a terrible mediocre cook I am. Once 3:00 rolls around, I open the fridge and pantry doors and stare at their contents in the hopes that something will jump out and shout, "Make me!" (Disney style.) This rarely happens, so I end up throwing something together last minute while Rory throws tupperware lids around and begs to be picked up. My goal is to begin planning meals before I go grocery shopping in the hopes that I'll be better prepared for dinner time. I found some great blogs that list weekly meal plans as well as the corresponding recipes and shopping lists.

http://www.mealplanning101.com/

I'm ashamed to say that I've attempted meal planning more times than I can count, but the 100th times the charm, right?