Replacing a vintage mirror..

I remember when I was super young, 7,8,9 years old and playing in front of my Nannys makeup vanity.

I always hoped someday it would be mine but having a large family I was highly doubtful it would trickle down to me, the middle of the pack grandchild.

When my Nanny passed away in 2012 somehow it did get offered to me!
I was living in Newfoundland but I snatched the opportunity and would end up storing it at my other grandparent's house for a couple of years before we moved back to Nova Scotia and I moved it into our new home.

Unfortunately, when my uncles were carrying the vanity downstairs the large middle mirror cracked in half.



(see the background for empty mirror space ^^^^)

So 4 years after being on display and 7 years after my Nanny passed, I am finally replacing that middle mirror!

As much as I love projects... especially DIY, I hateeeee complications.



The way that this mirror was inserted seemed too complex for me so I ignored it for a long time but cleaning up our room and having it look incomplete started to annoy me, so I brainstormed.

It looked like we might have to remove that top lip and slide a mirror in but I don't want to tear it all apart and not be able to get it back together.

This set is very, very old, I should have looked for a date on it before writing this post... But the back of it is all sealed with wood paneling and paper.

To tear it all apart would be a disaster.




I looked at the mirror space and asked myself,
"what if I use command strips to stick a mirror in there and fake the look of custom?"



CLICK HERE TO VIEW OR BUY COMMAND STRIPS ON AMAZON




So that's what I did!

I called a couple of mirror places and this spot - Pars Glass Burnside click here
seemed as good as any.

I gave them the dimensions and they cut it for under $35.

I went and picked it up but before I was able to hang it with command strips Nick put it in with Gorilla tape!



YUP.
This $7.99 tape lol

Click here for Gorilla Tape - Amazon

Was I super thankful he hung the mirror? - yes.

Was I also like, well I wanted to use command strips because they're thicker and would have given the mirror a more flush custom look as it would have matched the frame in depth.

Also, yes.

But es ok.
es ok.

All that matters is how amazing it looks!
And how after 7 years all it cost me was $40 and 10 mins.



Also hung my Jilly Box print and it looks amazinggggg.

I just checked online to see if you could purchase it but it seems you cannot.
Since this was a JillyxKaitlin Hargreaves exclusive I know they only made 10,000 copies.

But if you're interested  I will link Kaitlin's website and she does custom work.

Click Here for Kaitlins website!

I had actually looked into getting my sister a custom pet portrait for Christmas but they start at $325 and my sister has 2 dogs... LOL.

It's not suppose to be this hard...

"It's not suppose to be this hard."
I cried, trying to get Nick to acknowledge my needs without taking a total breakdown.

It was the same old song and dance.
We would be fine and happy, until pressure mounts and I get fed up.
Maybe I yell, maybe I give him the silent treatment, either way, we go to bed not talking and wake up not talking.

I'm mad at him for not seeing my needs.
I don't know why he doesn't talk to me.
I guess he's mad at me for not talking to him, he needs me to talk.

We dance around each other all day, not speaking, being happy with the kids but underneath tired and stressed. It usually lasts 24-36 hours.

We will wake up the next morning, I will ask why he's not talking to me, I will cry and beg him to see my stress before it totally boils over and gets to this point.
Maybe then we could avoid this whole thing all together - I always think.

It's not suppose to be this hard.

This is the easiest we will ever have it, I'll say.
Two working parents on parental leave at the same time.

People look at my life and think how privileged and easy it must be.
And honestly, it is, I know it is.
But that doesn't mean its not also hard.

I'm the type of person who is always in competition with people.
I want to be the hardest working, the most tired, the one with the fullest plate.

My family always treats me like a spoiled brat, the kept women.
"You're so lucky to have Nick!"
"Nick is so hands on."
"You work? yeah, right."
Ha ha ha.

I don't know why they think that.
Maybe it's because Nick and I met so young so we've taken care of each other.

I was already working at the post office 4 months when I met Nick.
19 years old I was attending Dalhousie University,  worked retail in the evenings and worked backshift at the post office overnight.



Nick worked at McDonalds, having just dropped out of Community College for some electrical engineering or something, he was enrolled to start Business at Saint Mary's University in the fall.

It was July and I went to a party at a mutual friends house.
Nick was there.
We had attended the same high school, graduated the same year and I knew who he was but I didn't know him.

I thought he was cute so we talked and he walked me home at the end of the night.
I had to work the next day at all my jobs so I didn't stay too long.
I remember adding each other to MSN the following day and that was pretty much that.
We were dating.



As our lives ebbed and flowed, Nick would go back to school, I would continue working at the post office.

Backshift for 3 years, evening shift for a while, full time letter carrier.

Nick didn't love love Saint Marys, he decided to go back to NSCC (Nova Scotia Community College).

He finished his business program there, he applied to jobs and ended up getting one that took him to Saskatchewan for 6 months.

I had bought my first home at this point, was a full time "mailman" and would stay in Nova Scotia wait for him to complete his job training then we would move wherever his work told him he had to go.



That place was Newfoundland, Canada.

We were there for 5 years.

The first 6 months I took a leave of absence from the post office so I could wait for a post office job to open up near our small Newfoundland town.

This was the start of those kept women, pampered life jokes.

An opportunity did open up about an hour away from our home so I snatched it up and was back at work. Commuting over an hour each way was not ideal, those Newfoundland highways are treacherous, whether moose or winter, it's all deadly.




After a year of that commute we found out I was expecting Elliott.
And the morning sickness started.
And it never stopped.

I was letter carrying, which meant walking around all day with my barf bag in hand.
But that wasn't the hardest part, the worst part was trying not to puke while making my commute each day.

I drove around with a small bathroom garbage pail under my right armpit.
It wasn't safe and my doctor put me off work.

Que, lazy homebody, Holly's a kept women jokes.



Eventually we ended up back in Nova Scotia.

We had Noelle and it was a carbon copy pregnancy so I was put off work again.



2019 baby Nilah!

Our 3rd and probably last baby.

You guessed it!
I was put off work.

This was a tough year, Nicks dad passed away, we juggled a lot of balls.
I was pregnant and sick, 2 kids at home, Nicks family home had to be cleaned up and sold.
The Realestate market in Halifax was really hot so we started thinking if we flipped his family home maybe we could make a small profit and we could do something we had been dreaming of doing for the last 6 years...




Maybe Nick could take a paternity leave with me.

(Canada offers up to 18 months off of work to new parents, partially paid.)

I would take the maternity leave portion and then a year unpaid.
Nick would take the 9 months paid leave his work offers.



THIS IS A DREAM SCENARIO.

I know it is, and we are both so thankful for this opportunity.

Knowing now what we know, I'm not sure how we would have made it work any other way.

We are both at home all day, every day.
That means we can juggle the night time feedings, school, hockey, swimming, birthdays, meals, laundry, cleaning, bedtime, baths, WHATEVER.

You all know how crazy life is and we get to juggle it with 2 sets of hands.
All in, all the time.



So then..
why?
Why do we still have the silent standoff?
Why is life so hard when it's not suppose to be this hard right now?

Honestly, because it just is.

Life is not a competition.
I need to shake that thought.

You cannot look from the outside and think you know everything that goes on in someone else life.
You don't get to tip your scale because you worked 40 hours and someone else worked 38.
They took sick leave, you didn't.
They have help that you don't.

We are all struggling.
We all handle work loads and life loads differently.

Life is hard for us right now, 3 kids 5 and under is just. so. hard.

But I'm thankful for every bit of it.
And very soon Nick will be back at work, I will still have some leave left and although its going to be hard I'll figure out how to make it work.
Then we will both be back at work and we will figure that out too.

After all our relationship started off on MSN....
we've figured out every social networking, texting tool thrown at us since then.
I'm betting we can figure out almost anything.  ;)

Expanding my wardrobe with Sheertex

You know how much I love wearing skirts and dresses, a dress is the perfect outfit to me!

They can be comfy but still look cute, chic, professional and the number 1 thing..
It's one and done!

No fussing about what top goes with which bottom.
It makes putting outfits together so easy peasy.
Especially because I am trying to keep weekly capsule wardrobes so we can have a better and faster method of getting ready and out the door in the morning.

A little tip I always share is that: dresses don't have to be limited to certain seasons. 



Short sun dresses or beach style maxi dresses can be worn straight through fall and even winter when you pair them with the proper accessories!

Like these Sheertex Pantyhose <<<<

I actually look forward to the chillier months because it means less leg shaving (lol!) and more comfy Sheertex tights! <<<<

Toss some tights on under your dress and a chunky cardigan on top, you've just doubled or tripled your wardrobe options by not limiting yourself based on season.



I don't even know where to start when telling people about my love for Sheertex <<<<
I usually just say "grab my pantyhose and pull!" so they can see for themselves.

Sheertex <<<< pantyhose are 10x stronger than anything else on the market.

They're unbelievably comfortable, they stretch to accommodate your individual body shape and they have the perfect waistband that is wide and smooths in alllllll the right places!

Their size range is also very inclusive <3

Sheertex <<<<



PLUS they come in SO many colours/patterns and you know how much I love to wear colour and pattern... sometimes together!!

OR pattern on pattern, why not?! ;) ^^^^

Check out some colour options here - Sheertex <<<<

Click Here for these exact Cranberry Opaque Pantyhose
Use code HOLLYSHOUSEWIFELIFE10 for 10% off your order


I am wearing a size large in regular length, I'm 5'3 and approx. 200 pounds

USE CODE

HOLLYSHOUSEWIFELIFE10 

FOR 10% OFF YOUR ORDER

I get SO much wear out of these Heart Sheers Sheertex <<<<
I wear them with every pattern, colour, length of skirt or dress and everytime, even when there's just a little bit of leg exposed, I get complimented.

I've lost count of how many times I've worn them!
I went through all my phone photos and every other week I had another photo in the heart sheers.

Just look at that waistband! - so comfy Click here!

I could never get that kind of wear out of a 'regular' pair of sheers.
I use to feel lucky when I would get 1-2 wears out of my pantyhose before they were ripped, torn or snagged.

Now that I've switched everything over to Sheertex <<<<
I wear my pantyhose all day long!

& Pantyhose are not usually the type of fashion you enjoy wearing when you have to chase 3 little ones, 3 cats and one slobbery golden retriever around all day but I am telling you they have the comfort of a workout legging and the style of the runway.

View photo below to become a believer or if you want you can grab my pantyhose and see for yourself ;)



This blog post is sponsored by Sheertex but all words, thoughts and opinions are my own.
I was very happy to suggest Sheertex before any sponsorships.
They are Canadas largest hosiery factory. :)