Must Add Fabric Softener

The useless kind of nesting

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

I like to say that I'm always nesting, whether I'm pregnant or not. And Lord knows there are enough projects around here to keep me busy/happy for ten years. But even though I want to get all of those projects done, suddenly I'm wasting time on organization that's pretty close to useless. I know some people will say there's no such thing as useless organization, but looking around my house I have to disagree.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time yesterday and today—and will undoubtedly spend some other obscene amount of time tomorrow—going through my Google Chrome bookmarks. They're already organized but I can always do better, plus it suddenly became imperative that I separate out all the bookmarks of blogs where nothing had been posted since July 2011. I do not know why I picked that date. Note that I also didn't say I deleted them, because I didn't. I sorted them into a folder labeled “Delete July 1 2012 if no new posts since July 2011.” And not just one folder, I sorted the links into subfolders labeled the same way as the folders they came out of. That way if I have to put them back I'll know right where to drop them. Smart, right?

I've also started planning the boys' birthday party. The one that takes place in September. Really, I think at this point I could have it next month because I have most of the details down pat. B and I were talking about him graduating from college in a few years and now I want to start looking at ideas for that. I might just start planning our unborn child's first birthday party while I'm at it.

Third on the list is planning the addition we want to build, oh, five to seven years down the road. (I'd totally be fine with building it now, but for some reason people like to get paid so we have to wait until we have enough cash or enough home equity, whichever comes first.) Do I need to decide now on the furniture arrangement for our future living room? No. Have I? Yes.

In my own defense, I was actually productive today. I did laundry, had Yaya vacuum, did dishes, had Yaya also do dishes (because there were that many), worked on the baby blanket I'm (still) crocheting and we went to the zoo. Now, of course, I'll need a few days to recover from my productivity. I think I have some files in my My Documents folder that need organizing.

Menu Plan Monday for January 30, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Normally our menu plan is nothing I want to even know about, much less share with the internet, so I don't bother linking up to Org Junkie's MPM. But I like it this week, so I'm going to go ahead and join.

Breakfasts around here are either eggs and toast, cereal or oatmeal. If it's a weekend day there might be French toast, pancakes or, if I'm feeling really ambitious, homemade biscuits and gravy.

Usually the kids are in school for lunch and I'll just eat whatever's left over from the night before. B will either take leftovers or chips and a sandwich to work with him. Mr. Man always eats school lunch, but sometimes Yaya takes a cold lunch. If Yaya takes a lunch he likes half a crunchy peanut butter and honey sandwich, some kind of snack cracker and applesauce. I know, it's not much, but the kid is incredibly picky. Where are the vegetables, you say? Oh, how funny.

So on to the dinners.

Monday--Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Braid, fruit

Tuesday--Homemade pizza (probably half cheese, quarter pepperoni, quarter beef) using this crust recipe, salad, fruit.

Wednesday--chicken dumpling casserole, green beans, fruit. One of the few new recipes I've made in the past six months that B has asked me to make again.

Thursday--tuna casserole, peas, fruit.

Friday--lasagna, garlic bread, salad.

Saturday--Chinese honey chicken, stir-fried vegetables, rice.

Sunday--Super Bowl. Not sure of our complete menu, but B makes some pretty delicious honey barbecue chicken drumsticks that I could eat all day, plus he wants Little Smokies in barbecue sauce. I'm thinking of making ham and cheese pretzel bites again, too. I'd also love to make a batch of the Knorr spinach dip that I love so much. I usually don't because it makes so much and I'm the only one that eats it, but according to this it can be frozen and reheated. So maybe I'll find out if that's true. Finally, Jello poke cake with Cool Whip frosting sounds good for dessert, as long as I can send half of it to work with B on Monday.

Daydreaming is more fun than reality

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:50:00 +0000

I wrote back in June about ideas I had for the bathroom. Naturally I've done nothing about it since then, but the time for gutting draws near. Yes, gutting.

Despite my Sketchup drawings with white tile in the shower area, we decided on replacing the current tile tub surround with a solid surround in acrylic or whatever material they're made from. Then new paint, new vanity top, frame the current mirror, build a few pretty storage cabinets (those are in the Sketchup drawings) and done. Except, of course, that's not how it's going to be. Because of this.

Now here it is with helpful labels.

I ran out of space or I would have labeled the incorrectly insulated rim joists.

We knew this was an issue when we moved in. However, we thought it was an old issue, plus neither the home inspector nor my dad said "hey, that giant piece of rotted subfloor under the bathroom might be an issue." But soon after we moved in we started noticing rusty splashes on the top of the washer and on the shelf next to the washer.

I'm ashamed to admit how long it took me to connect this to the water dripping sound we heard inside the wall where the shower plumbing is in the bathroom. (Hint: we moved in a year and a half ago and it hasn't been connected for long.) My current theory (hypothesis?) is that the shower plumbing is leaking for whatever reason. Probably because it's old. The leak, which always happens quite a while after the shower has been shut off, is dripping down along the cast iron tub drain pipe, picking up rust and splashing down onto the surfaces below. That's not the only source of water damage, though. The wall and/or the bottom row of tile on the long side of the tub surround are bowing out, which seems to be letting water seep behind there and damage the subfloor. That wall is common to the bathroom and our bedroom, so the damage is in both rooms. I think it's more in our bedroom than the bathroom.

So now our simple tile replacement is off the table. No, now we need to gut that entire half of the bathroom--I'm still holding out hope that we can leave the vanity in place, although it's got some water damage underneath too. The toilet will, however, be uninstalled and reinstalled after I lay down new tile flooring. I'm not worried about that part. Maybe I should be. I learned to install a toilet in high school but they didn't make you try and maneuver it in a tiny bathroom.

Believe it or not, demoing the cast iron tub, tile surround and too-deep closet that I've always hated (its top half will be replaced with shallower storage cabinets and its bottom half will become a laundry chute) is not the most difficult part of this. You know how I said the damage was under our bedroom floor, too? That means we need access to the subfloor in our bedroom. This is the flooring in our bedroom right now (picture's from last summer's house tour).

The damage is in and under the wall with the dresser on it. The wall the flooring runs perpendicular too. The idea of removing individual boards of original hardwood when I was ~~fooling myself~~ misremembering that they ran parallel to the wall, and therefore I wouldn't have to remove too many, was bad enough, but this makes me want to hyperventilate into a paper bag.

Also, this is our only bathroom with a bathing facility. The basement bathroom has a sink and toilet, so we really can't let this be how projects usually are around here: neverending. I think we can do it in three days, not counting reinstallation of the bedroom floor. Day one we'll demo the bathroom, remove the hardwood floor, build a temporary wall (unless we find out that studs aren't water damaged, which isn't going to happen) and remove the old wall. Day two we will replace the subfloor, permanently install the new wall, address any plumbing issues, put cement board on the bottom two-thirds of the tub surround wall, put green board on the top third of the wall, and seal the seams and screws with tape and mud. If there's any other waterproofing (I know there's some red painted-on stuff that I can't remember the name of right now, might not hurt to slap a coat of that up) that needs to be done it'll be done on this day. Day three: install the tub and tub surround, hook up the plumbing, seal and waterproof the tub and surround and install a new sink and vanity top. You'll note that this doesn't include installing new flooring, which we might be able to get done on the third day, doing anything involving the mirror or vanity cabinets, reinstalling the hardwood, installing the storage cabinet or building the laundry chute. Realistically I think we can get the shower in working order in three days, but I think finishing the bathroom will take longer. Oh, and obviously we can't do this now, with me eight months pregnant, so this will have to take place sometime after I give birth. I can't decide if we also want to do it before the kids are out of school or if the various game systems we own will be enough to keep them out of our hair.

So that's depressing. Enough thinking about the nuts and bolts of how the remodel has to happen. Time to look at pretty inspiration pictures for the finished product.

Love these overmount sinks.

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These are the types of cabinets I want to build for the vanity, although maybe with just doors instead of drawers.

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I bought two gorgeous old butcher block slabs off of Craigslist forever ago. They came from a fish market in Boston. My original plan was to seal them and use them as the new vanity top, but they're five feet long each and my vanity is four feet long. I don't know if I could stand cutting one of the and "wasting" that foot. So maybe they'll go in the kitchen at some point in the future and I'll just look at this picture and sigh wistfully. They're much thicker than this counter anyway.

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I love the idea of swing arm lamps for vanity lighting like these final four pictures show. But I keep wondering if I'll hate it in a few years. But of all the possible dated items in a bathroom, I guess the light fixture would be the easiest thing to change.

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Good brass or bad brass?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:21:00 +0000

As part of my living room refresh, I decided to spray paint the two lamps that sit on the console table. They were forest green, which obviously wasn't going to work, and I wanted to paint them a lighter green but couldn't find one that didn't look neon. So I painted them oil-rubbed bronze until I could figure something else out. And they stayed ORB for a long time, until I decided painting them an antique brass color was a good idea. I've used Gold Rush Metallic by Rustoleum before (on the curtain rods in our bedroom) and absolutely loved it, so it was my go-to antique brass color for these lamps. Here's a before.

And now.

Even before I painted them I knew that I wasn't sure about the color of the paint with the color of the table, but I decided to go ahead and do it anyway. Now...I'm still not sure about the color of the paint with the color of the table. I like the lamps, I think, but I can't decide if I like them on that specific table. Not that I have another one to switch to, at least not at the moment.

So what do you think? Is this good brass or bad brass? Should I keep it or begin yet another quest for a different color? How many coats of spray paint can one lamp take? I think I'm going to find out.

Cloth diapering rundown

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:37:00 +0000

When I was pregnant with Yaya, I wouldn't even have considered cloth diapering. Because eww poop, right? Plus back in 2004 there weren't the kind of resources online that there are now and I wouldn't even have known where to start. It was a similar situation in 2006 with Mr. Man. Now, however, information about cloth diapers is everywhere and it's something I'm ready to consider. To be honest, we're doing it more for the monetary savings than for any environmental reason, but if it doesn't work out then it's not a big deal to go back to disposable. Actually she might be in disposables when she's first born; from what I've read some newborns aren't big enough to properly fit a cloth diaper.

I did literally months of research before I started, so I like to think I can coherently share a little of what I've learned.

If you're going to cloth diaper, the first decision you have to make is about the type of diaper to use. I won't do a very in-depth run down here because that would take up too much space--there are a lot of options, especially when you add in different types of fabrics, closures, gussets, etc. The basic types are: all-in-one (probably the most similar to a disposable, but the most expensive and the type that takes longest to dry), all-in-two (a waterproof outer layer and a feel-dry inner layer with absorbent layers in between, with a sewn-on or snap-in soaker), fitted (looks like a disposable diaper but must be used with a plastic cover) and pocket (a waterproof outer layer and feel-dry inner layer, with an absorbent soaker stuffed into the pocket). I decided to use pocket diapers.

I also decided to make my own diapers, which meant that I had to then decide on fabrics, methods, and patterns. If you are going to buy cloth diapers the price depends on what you choose and where you buy from. I've seen all-in-ones at the local children's consignment store for $20 each, which is frankly a rip-off--new BumGenius all-in-ones go for about $22 each. I've also seen diapers on Craigslist for as little as $6 each, though I can't remember what type they were. Etsy is a great resource for cute cloth diapers (and you're supporting small businesses), and if you're willing to risk leaks you can buy tester diapers and save a few dollars.

Since I'm making my diapers I don't need to worry about any of that, I just need to pick a pattern. There are free patterns and paid patterns and, being cheap, I was hoping to stick to free patterns. Some of the most popular free patterns are Rita's Rump Pocket, Darling Diapers Newborn (this one is only for the newborn size; Darling Diapers has a different paid pattern for other sizes), Cloth Revolution (download this one whether you plan to use it or not; the instructions are incredibly comprehensive and have some fantastic information that applies to cloth diapering in general, not just this pattern), Wee Weeka and Witteybums. I decided to use the Witteybums pattern, specifically the double welt pocket.

For most cloth diapers, you will need a type of laminated fabric for the outer layer called PUL. Since diaper making is more popular now, you can find PUL in fun prints at a lot of fabric stores, but I've heard lots of complaints about it delaminating. I know Joann sells it, I've heard that Hobby Lobby sells it, and I've seen it on Hancock's site but I've never actually seen it in a store. I decided to just buy plain white PUL, which is all that my local Hancock Fabrics had in stock. I can't remember if they called it PUL or "cloth diaper fabric" on the label, and of course I used a 40% off coupon. I used butter suede, also from Hancock, for the inner fabric. For the soaker--the part that gets shoved inside the diaper to soak up various bodily fluids--I'm going to start out with microfiber cloths (the type you find in the automotive section). To get the cute diaper effect I'll be sewing simple covers using this pattern.

So far I've made four diapers. My goal is to make between 20-30 in the newborn size; I'll need fewer diapers in each larger size, and each diaper takes about two hours to make (I'm very slow, though). The first three I decided to make with T-shirt fabric outers and suede inners, mostly because I didn't want to cut into the "good" fabric without making a few prototypes first. I learned something new from each diaper. Here they are all lined up.

These are lined up in the order that I made them. Look closely at the first one and you can see my biggest screw up.

Ignore the threads I didn't clip short enough for the hole I ripped in the outer layer. Oops. I had somehow gotten the idea that you weren't supposed to sew through the PUL. I don't know why, it doesn't even make sense if you think about it, but apparently I wasn't thinking. I ended up sewing and ripping apart this area a few times and basically ripped a hole in the T-shirt fabric. I patched it and we'll see how well this diaper works. These need to be used with plastic covers, anyway.

The other two T-shirt diapers aren't too bad, other than the fact that on #2 I forgot I was supposed to be using a 3/8" seam allowance and went to my default 1/2", so it's a bit smaller. When I finally got around to making the PUL diaper, things went pretty well except for my machine balking at sewing the hook tabs on. I'm pretty sure the issue was that the machine needed to be rethreaded; I got thread nests when I first tried to sew them on using a straight stitch and skipped stitches when I tried to zigzag, but once I rethreaded and switched back to straight stitch things seemed to go much better.

Here's a picture of the inside of the diaper. This is the double welt pocket, which means the soaker gets shoved inside the diaper in two spots instead of one. This is supposed to make it easier for the soaker to agitate out in the laundry, and even though baby poop is no longer quite so disgusting to me I still don't want to have to remove the soakers by hand if I don't have to.

You can also see that I've added gussets (a.k.a. "poopcatchers"); those are not included in the Witteybums pattern.

Here's a shot of the messed up stitching on the fourth diaper, which my camera really did not want to focus on properly.

I'm hoping to finish eight more over the next week, then probably eight more the week after that. I'm not sure if I want to go ahead with the second batch of eight or if I want to wait until she's born and make sure the diapers fit.

To finish things up, here are a few great resource links about using cloth diapers and which type of diaper to choose.

Cloth Diapering 101
The Much Requested Cloth Diaper Post
Doodie Duty

All my plans

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:36:00 +0000

B took the van in to get the transmission drained and refilled. (Also, $140 for that. I am in the wrong line of work.) He came home and told me that they had put the van on their diagnostic computer and the results were not good. There is a scale of I don't know what you would call it. Wear and tear? Likelihood that your transmission will blow up? It goes to 29 and the average is 10. The van was at 29. It maxed out the scale. So we have a transmission that could be fine for a while or could just die on us at any time, which means we need a new transmission to the tune of $2300. My dreams of a warm basement, bathroom wall that doesn't bow at the bottom and awesome kitchen are fading fast. Well, the bathroom wall will get fixed, although a redone kitchen would be nicer to look at, but other than that any big projects will be on hold. Oh well.

To do in 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:36:00 +0000

While I'm too lazy to do a recap post for a year, I will do a to do list post. I love to do lists even though I hardly ever finish mine.

I thought about planning a project a month, but then I remembered I'm eight months pregnant. So at some point there will be a baby, which means a project a month is probably way overstretching. For now I'll just go with what's most pressing to me, listed in no particular order.

1. Redo the bathroom. Here it is now:

There's some water damage to the subfloor, but I'm pretty sure that a) it's old and b) it's actually in our bedroom though it's from the tile in the bathroom. The wall behind the tub seems to be not so straight anymore--the bottom row of tiles has separated from the row above, which I have temporarily dealt with by applying a generous amount of grout, but that's not a permanent fix. Plus that tile is ugy. So we'll be rebuilding that wall and putting in a tub surround for sure. There will also definitely be a new coat of paint, new storage, new vanity top, new sink and faucet, new light fixtures and new flooring. What I'm not so sure about is whether or not there will be a new vanity.

2. Refresh the living room. Here's a not-entirely-accurate before:

I am really looking forward to getting a new camera. Anyway, I'm saying refresh instead of redo because the big stuff is more or less staying the same. This is already in progress. I won't give it all away, but I think it's going to be great.

3. Redo kitchen.

This won't be a gut reno or anything, but I'm keeping the details a secret until I actually start. It's a miracle I've been able to restrain myself from starting thus far.

4. Finish nursery.

5. Refresh boys' room. No before because I don't have one on the computer and they're sleeping. The wall color, accent colors and theme are staying the same but there will be some other changes. I'm kind of nervous about this one because part of the changes will be getting a bunk bed, and of course I'm not 100% convinced Yaya won't fall off the top or Mr. Man won't sneak up to the top and fall off. Basically I'm expecting someone to fall off the top, but there will be rails so hopefully not.

6. Fix up the basement. This will include paint on the walls--and possibly actual walls, not just cement--and something done to the floor, I think paint and throw rugs. I also want to get a better set up for tool storage and the workbench. I think I could cut about 50% of the time from my projects if I could actually find the stuff I need for them.

I think that's enough for now. Think I can get it all done?

The little things

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:55:00 +0000

I haven't technically been told I no longer have to "take it easy," but over the past few weeks I've started doing easy projects that I can't stand to not have done anymore. It might take me twice as long as it should, but things are getting done. Walls and trim are getting painted.

Nasty grout is getting redone.

Here's a quick before and after preview of the boys' new closet organizer.

It's not stenciled yet, but the kitchen shade fabric now matches the dining room shade fabric.

There's also furniture being painted, but no before and after shots of that yet since there's no after to photograph. There are also no pictures of the projects I've done in the boys' room and nursery so far, but there will be soon.

I hope to have all these little projects finished this week (most of them are already done) so that I can start focusing on the living room refresh. I'm not sure if I'll do the nursery or the boys' room after that; I guess it depends on how close I am to my due date and if I'm still able to move on my own. If I have to roll around like Violet Beauregard then all decorating is probably going to be put on hold.

It's official

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:19:00 +0000

I have lost my toes.

Thirty-one weeks down, nine-ish to go.

New Year's Rockin' Eve

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:47:00 +0000

Our big plans for tonight include pizza and movies, like they usually do. We are just not party people, I guess, and even if I did drink normally I couldn't drink now. I don't think the baby's brain would appreciate it.

I know this is the time of year that people do recap posts, and I'm just not in the mood. I don't feel like I've done much this year--which is probably exactly why I should go back and do a recap--but meh. I'm looking forward instead, working on mini redos of the living room, boys's room, nursery and kitchen and starting lots of sewing projects.

How was your 2011? I think mine was pretty good, even though by this time of year I don't remember half of what happened. I remember being so happy on this day in 2010, happy that the year was over, but now I can't for the life of me remember why I thought 2010 was so terrible. So either it wasn't so bad or I have excellent memory repression skills.

I hope whatever your plans for New Year's Eve are that you're happy, healthy and surrounded by whomever you want to be surrounded by. Happy New Year, see you in 2012!

Christmas Wrap-Up (ha)

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:34:00 +0000

Aren't I punny? Anyway, not many Christmas pictures because when there are presents involved, kids move too fast for my crappy camera to get non-blurry pictures. So here is a quick recap with the clearest pictures available to me.

That's it. I'm a bad blogger.

We also finished our gingerbread house, seen here with one of Yaya's Christmas presents next to it.

Mr. Man and B have been picking the candy off of it since just about the moment it was finished, which annoys Yaya to no end. I'm sure he'll be thrilled when they start breaking off chunks of the gingerbread.

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Merry Christmas from all of us and a bah humbug from Poppy.

I'll be back in a few days. Enjoy the holidays!

Quick Christmas village

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:07:00 +0000

I've always wanted a Christmas village. Unfortunately I also have small children who like to break things. I'm jealous of those of you who have small children who do not like to break things--you lucky ducks. So since my kids are whirling dervishes of destruction, even a Dollar Tree village was out since, really, why spend money when you know that thing is going to get broken?

Enter the Hobby Lobby paper mache house.

I didn't buy the set of three; at my Hobby Lobby they're also sold separately so I just went with the big one. Obviously one house does not a village make, but I happened to find a cute paper mache house in the Christmas crafts aisle. The first time I passed it by since it was 50% off of $10. The big house was cheaper than that (I think) and I wasn't sure. However, there was only one left, so when it was still there the next time I was in the store I decided to grab it.

First, paint your houses. I had B spraypaint these, and if you look closely you can see a few drips but I don't really care. They're not exactly meant to be scrutinized, and if you do notice a drip we can just pretend it's melting snow.

Next, I needed doors and windows for the big house. The little house had a built-in door, but the big one didn't. So I used a scrap of pink posterboard left over from last year's felt food Christmas gifts, cutting it a little bigger than the door opening on the top and sides.

For the windows I made a template the same way, except making it larger on all sides. I wanted the windows to be frosty (or at least not transparent) so I ironed two sheets of waxed paper together.

I tried to do three sheets, but failed to note that if both sides of the paper being ironed together didn't have wax on them they wouldn't stick. At least that's the way mine worked. If I had thought the two layers weren't enough I would have just glued the third on. Anyway, once you have your waxed paper ironed, just trace the template onto it for however many windows you have.

Now the problem is how to glue the paper onto the windows in the small house. The large house had a roof that came off, but the small house didn't. This would also be an issue when putting lights in. Soooo...

I cut a hole at the bottom center for the plug (you'll actually need to do this on both houses), then cut the back open on three sides so that I could glue on the window paper. Also, see the melting snow on the edge there? So wintry.

Glue your windows in, then glue the back shut with a small bead of glue on the edge of the door flap. The paper mache is reasonably thick so it shouldn't be too hard. If it's not perfect, oh well. It's the back of the house.

And the final product.

For the lights, I just split a strand between the two houses, then plugged the cord into an extension cord and ran that over to the outlet. For these pictures I put in an extra strand of pearl lights, but those types of lights tend to get hot. I figured small enclosed cardboard box plus hot lights would equal trouble, so I went out and got a strand of LED lights. They're not nearly as pretty, but I figure that's the price I have to pay to not have the house burn down.

I haven't painted the front door of the smaller house yet because I have a specific color in mind and want to buy that specific color rather than mixing it, so for now the door is white. I still think it looks good. Right now it's more of a settlement than a village, but I've heard that there is a paper mache church in existence somewhere. I plan on hunting one of those down, and if I could also find a paper mache general store, or something to pass as such, I think I might be set. Next year--or maybe even later this week--I'll make some cardboard trees for the landscape.

So there you have it. This might take up a little more room than a standard ceramic Christmas village, but it's not breakable, and after opening the roof a few times to stare at the lights Mr. Man has decided to leave it alone (although he does make sure it's always plugged in).

My very first guest post

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:14:00 +0000

Check out my very first guest post. I'm over at Meet My Ugly Baby talking about falling through a rotten floor while being watched by cockroaches. No, really. Go see it here.

Simple math

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:42:00 +0000

Me: Yaya, today is Daddy's birthday. Tell him he's getting old.
Yaya: I'm not going to say that! How old is he?
Me: Thirty.
Yaya: WOW. That's only twenty years away from FIFTY! Fifty's a lot.
Me: I told you so.

Baby face

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:27:00 +0000

Despite her nose not being pictured, this is my favorite picture so far, and today was my favorite ultrasound so far. No 3D images yet (she didn't have enough fluid around her face) but I saw her scratch her face and wave her hands around. It was great. Now I go to appointments every two weeks--I'm 28 weeks, so 12 left. I'm ready but also not even close to ready.

Second snow of the season

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

The first snow was back in November, but that light dusting didn't stick around long. We finally got our first real snow the first weekend in December, and Yaya was chomping at the bit to go outside. Mr. Man decided to throw a monster fit and then fall asleep on the kitchen floor instead. Whatever floats your boat.

Freeeeedoooom! All the outdoor furniture is put away for winter so there's room to run.

Making a snow angel.

Ta da!

If you say "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" he will cut you.

It's snowing again right now, so soon he'll have a blank slate to create more snow angels. I think next time we'll be able to convince Mr. Man to go outside, too, now that he remembers how much fun snow is.

Tree trimming

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

This is yet another post that's late, but only by a few weeks.

We put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and so far I'm happy with how much Mr. Man has left it alone. Actually the cat has knocked more ornaments off of it than he has.

Don't mind his backwards underwear, he does that every single time he puts them on.

The tree is fake and prelit, but this year some of the lights had finally kicked the bucket, so we added pearl lights my mom gave to us. I like them a lot better than the regular Christmas lights.

Finally convinced him to put some clothes on.

Thumbs up for an awesome job. Well, two fists and two backwards thumbs up.

Fall decor

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 22:43:00 +0000

Now that it's officially winter I thought I'd post about my fall decor. I'm nothing if not timely.

I didn't do much for decor because I can't--Mr. Man thinks anything put within his reach is fair game. I'm wondering how he's going to do with the lit Christmas house this year. My favorite fall decor item was our leaf garland.

I had the boys paint pieces of paper with acrylics, whatever pattern and colors they liked, provided they were fall colors. Then I cut out the leaf shapes using this stencil, traced them onto the backs of the painted pages, and spent many hours in front of the TV cutting leaves out. Using some mini clothespins and twine I already had, I made a garland to hang from the floating shelves in our living room. Emily at Jones Design Company did a fall art project with the same leaf stencil. Note that hers was posted two months ago; she's obviously much more on the ball than I am.

This is the same jar of pine cones I have out every year. This is my second year and I've almost got the jar full. The squirrels and I fight over who will get the pine cones each year. I usually lose. I have my fingers crossed that next year the jar will finally get filled.

This one is not really specifically fall, but I'd had the unfinished wood toolbox sitting around forever and finally decided to do something with it. Mr. Man knocked the back slats off a long time ago, and despite me keeping track of them through at least two moves and countless reorganizations of the basement, they are now M.I.A. Oh well, the candles aren't going anywhere. I wiped on two coats of Minwax Red Mahogany stain and called it good. The real candles can't be lit, of course, but the two electric candles can be turned on.

Last but not least, my fall wreath. I made the form using pipe insulation from Home Depot. If you get the six foot length, cut it into two three foot pieces and it won't kink. At least, that's what I had to do. I gave it a quick, messy wrap in strips of painter's canvas that I already had, added rosettes made of the same canvas and leftover painted leaves, then hung it from a loop of ribbon that was reasonably neutral.

It's kind of plain. I'm thinking next year it needs something more, but for now it's getting switched out for a Christmas wreath. I don't have to make that one so it's a project that will actually get done in a timely manner. Assuming I remember to ask B to hang it up for me, of course.

I haven't forgotten about you

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:49:00 +0000

But I procrastinated taking pictures forever and now I can't find the cord to my camera. I think our printer has slots for memory cards, but it hates my computer so I'll have to wait for B to get home and wrestle it into submission.

In the meantime here are some pretty food pictures. I think I'll be making at least some of these for teacher gifts this year.

Source: asoutherngrace.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: sugarandspice-celeste.blogspot.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: bigredkitchen.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: melskitchencafe.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: sweetpeaskitchen.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Get a haircut, hippy

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:00:00 +0000

B, talking to the TV: Oh, zip it, hippy.

Yaya, thinking B was talking to him: Hey! I'm not a hippy! I just got a haircut!

I would say that maybe we use that phrase too much but I don't think such a thing is possible.

I am thankful

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 04:04:00 +0000

I had my 25 week appointment today and we finally--FINALLY--found out the sex. It's a girl! Third ultrasound's the charm. Now it's time to start sewing adorable baby dresses and painting furniture pink.

I hope all you Americans out there have a happy Thanksgiving. Everyone else have a happy November 24th. We will be going to my mom's and I'll be making our traditional highly processed side dishes. Yaya is very much looking forward to Thanksgiving because, and I quote, "you get lots of food." What can I say, the boy likes his food. He takes after his mother.

How to get kids to clean the house

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:57:00 +0000

Step one: ~~buy a steam cleaner~~ inherit a steam cleaner from your mom when she buys a new one.

Step two: fill it up, plug it in and give it to the suspiciously willing seven-year-old.

Step three: act nonchalant when he uses it to clean the kitchen floor and even sweeps beforehand. Suggest maybe it would be fun to steam the bathroom floor, too.

Step four: wonder if getting him a steam cleaning wand for Christmas so he'll clean toilets and showers would be going too far.

Yay for viability

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:46:00 +0000

I know I said I would post about my fall decor this weekend, but I lied. I was too lazy to get the pictures. I should take the camera with me to pick the boys up from school so I can just grab a picture on the way in the door. That might be the only way it gets done.

Anyway, today marks my twenty-fourth week of pregnancy, which means the baby is now viable--basically she (yep, still going with she) would have a chance if she were to be born now.

B says this is a weird thing to think about, and I suppose it is. It took us a long time to conceive this time around, almost a year, and during that time I did lots of online research as to why. I joined forums for women having trouble conceiving; there were women who were unable to conceive and women who were unable to carry to term. If you spend long enough reading those stories you start to convince yourself that you will have those same problems. Once I did get pregnant it was always in the back of my mind that miscarriage was a possibility, even though I've never had a miscarriage before. Just preterm labor. So while I definitely thought about reaching twenty-four weeks in my first two pregnancies, it's been on my mind a lot more this time around. Actually, though, I think I've been in the hospital less this time--my preterm labor with both boys was almost certainly caused by infections and I've had three so far, all caught early. I'm not on full bedrest yet (still supposed to be taking it easy) and I hope to avoid it completely. I think I might make it.

Since I haven't posted ultrasound pictures in a while, here's the one we got from the twenty-two week appointment.

I think she's even turned her face away here. I don't know when I'll get another ultrasound, but I haven't lost all hope that I might know what I'm having before I give birth.

Sick and tired

noreply@blogger.com (Jessica) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:03:00 +0000

I am, once again, sick. Sinus crap like it usually is this time of year--any time the barometric pressure changes I'm miserable. Normally I just suffer through it, but since I'm pregnant and infections can (and have twice before for me) lead to preterm labor I have to keep a much closer eye on things. I don't know who I'm kidding thinking that this might not develop into a full-blown infection; it always does. But for now I'm camped out on the couch with Mr. Man on my legs watching Max and Ruby and Yaya grudgingly doing the dishes in the kitchen. I did manage to get most of my fall decorating done but I haven't taken the pictures yet, and B was using the camera yesterday so Lord knows where it is right now. But I will post tomorrow if I don't get it today--you can all admire how my leaf garland highlights the TV cords.