the story so far

operation stop the fatness

2013-03-14T16:37:00.001-05:00

I lost the baby weight. I lost a little bit extra after the baby weight, too. But here I sit, still unhappy with my weight and the shape (or lack thereof) I'm in. I was looking at mommy and me gymnastic classes for R and started to think that I'd be too embarrassed to get out there with him. Afraid people would judge me and judge my body. I practically slapped myself... I'll be darned if my child will suffer because I'm unhappy. So things have to change, thus the initiation of Operation Stop the Fatness.

What is Operation Stop the Fatness? It is my mission to get over myself, my poor eating habits, and my laziness and to set a great example to my son of what life is supposed to look like. I want him to grow up with a healthy relationship with food. I want him to be active because it's natural, not because it's something we force on him. It all starts with me. The last two weeks I've had to ask myself, how did I get here?

I was active growing up, participating in almost every sport my school offered. When I decided not to try out for cheerleading at the end of my sophomore year, I replaced practices and team activities with eating. I know now this is where the problems started. I would drive to town after work or on the way home from hanging out with friends, pick up fast food and eat it before getting home. One morning before school my sis, a friend and I drove to three different fast food places to get an assortment of breakfast foods. We were eating just for FUN. By the fall of my senior year, I had gained 36 lbs since getting my drivers license. I repeat: in two years, I gained 36 lbs. Holy cow.

I decided to get my shizz together and started with Weight Watchers. I loved counting points and how easy it was. Without doing any "activity" other than being a typical 18 year old, I lost 24 lbs by the time Homecoming rolled around. I won Homecoming queen wearing a dress I'd worn to prom my sophomore year. I felt amaaahhhhzing. I kept the weight off for two years until big life altering events happened and I found myself depressed and living alone for the first time.

With a friend from work I tried low carb/no carb/energy drinks and cigarettes only diets. I'd still go home alone and order a pizza. Or I'd do our no carb diet, but I'd eat all the Atkins candy bars between Target and home... and then say screw it and get ice cream. By the time I was moving in with my now husband in 2006, I'd gained the weight back, plus a few. Back on Weight Watchers I went.

I'd do great, cooking us both WW meals and getting girls at my new job to do it with me. I lost 10 lbs, but then J got a job traveling. I'd do fine while he was home but fall apart as soon as he left, eating my loneliness. It was a weird time for me, as I'd lost what I thought was a good friend and didn't have contact with old friends. I tried to go back on Weight Watchers and did a couple rounds of the South Beach diet. By the summer of 2010, I'd gained 44 lbs since graduating from high school. I did the HCG diet, lost 17 lbs and no surprise because that diet is whack, I gained it back quickly. I got married at the highest weight I'd ever been in my life. I couldn't even lose weight for my biggest day ever.

Getting married and trying (and failing) to lose weight is stressful. So I ate. And I cooked. And I baked. And I ate. I know they say you gain weight as a newlywed, but we'd been living together for 5 years at that point. What changed? All I know is that when I got an unexpected big fat positive pregnancy test two months after getting married, I weighed the most I'd ever weighed. I took my wedding day weight and added 10 lbs. IN TWO MONTHS I gained 10 lbs.

I kept it pretty healthy during my pregnancy. First trimester nausea led to weight loss. Saddest part? I was overweight enough that the weight loss, while a double digit number, wasn't concerning to my doc. So. Depressing. When I checked in for my induction, I made sure my husband looked away when they weighed me. No way should that man have to see a weight on his wife that was so close to his own weight. I mean, it's enough he was seeing me bigger, he didn't need to put a number on it.

Thanks to breastfeeding and being too dang tired to eat, I lost the baby weight within a few months. When an extra 10 lbs came off, I was not complaining. Then another 9 came off. I text my mom that since having my kiddo, I'd lost 50 lbs. I couldn't believe it. I was at the lowest weight I'd been in YEARS. I was wearing jeans I hadn't worn in awhile and feeling pretty confident. Then R started easing up on his nursing. The calorie burn slipped away and a few pounds came back.

I would consider myself decently active now. My job is not like my old office jobs. I work in my family's feed store, so it's normal to move/lift/load several 50 lb bags of feed every day. I chase R constantly but I'm still eating enough crap that I'm just maintaining a weight that is just not okay. What is my plan?

I've started back on Weight Watchers. It's a diet plan that I know, which is what I need right now. I have a good handle on what's ok to eat and what's not on WW. I can count points without paying for a membership. I am finding myself hungry a lot of the time (I've been doing it three weeks) which could be because I'm not allowing enough points for bumps in my activity or for R's increased nursing. Maybe I'm just not eating enough of the right things. I've looked at a couple other plans, but need to get a grip on what a normal calorie range is before I go into something more free range like Paleo.

I say Paleo because I've started Crossfit on my own (I guess Paleo and CF go hand in hand). I know, I know. I don't know if I can really call it Crossfit since I do it in my garage or living room, but I'm following their exercises, scaled to an at home and beginner level. I've spent so long side-eyeing the CF movement, that it was time to try it. Honestly, I hate on CF because I'm jealous of their amazing bodies and what they can do with those amazing bodies. I did my first WOD (feel so stupid saying that) and it was the hardest 17 minutes of my life. But then it was over. I was totally spent and sore for days but it was only 17 minutes. Not an hour on a treadmill plus bumbling through some light weights. 17 minutes. Done. I plan to work out in some capacity 5 days a week. My cousin (who owns a CF gym) said 3-5 days would be great for now. I'm going for 5 because I need to get in the habit of doing it and I'm afraid too many off days will make it harder to start again.

I have other things to work on. I am an emotional eater. Pick a feeling... any feeling! I promise I've eaten through it. When I was younger I didn't realize I was doing it, but as I've aged I recognize the feelings coming, the urge to eat it away and then I do it knowing it's wrong. I've tried all kinds of diets, where I have lost weight and gained it back time and time again because the root of the problem is that I don't deal with my feelings appropriately. I also need to deal with making poor food choices, eating too much sugar, and relying on caffeine for a pick-me-up. Maybe one of these days I could get R to sleep through the night, or maybe just wake up less and I won't need caffeine *wink wink*.

My goal is to lose 44 lbs from where I started. Wowza, right? I'm already down 2 so I only have 42 to go. I have a naturally muscular, bigger build though, so if I stick with CF and find the shape of my body change but I don't lose that 44 lbs, I will NOT be upset. My goal is to change my eating habits and become an active member of society. I'd like to wear my cousin's gym's shirt in public and have people believe that I actually do work out. I want to wear a pair of spandex leggings in public and have no shame in my game.

I believe this time I am doing it differently. I know I won't see immediate results. I know it took a long time to put the weight on, it'll take a long time to take it off. I know I'm so unhappy looking the way I do now. I know R deserves better from me. I'm praying for a little help from above this time and I think after sharing this online for the whole world to see, I kinda have to keep it up.

Wish me luck? Or pray for me? Either way, I'll take it.

He's Here: The Birth Story

2013-03-06T16:59:00.000-06:00

Look! Another birth story. As if a billion bloggers haven't already written a post just like this, I just couldn't help myself. What's a good blog without a birth story? Right? Right??? Clearly this post is old. Like almost 16 months old. I was going to share/not going to share/going to share/not going to share... but I guess now I'm sharing. Lucky for you there won't be Parts 1 through 17. Just one part. No hours of labor. Probably too many details about something that happens every day. But whatevs. READ IT. Or don't. But if you could leave comments about how my kid's birth was like soooper speshul snowflake material, I'd love you forever.

I never imagined I'd be posting a birth story on this blog. Trust me when I say that. I think back to when I started this blog and having a baby wasn't even on my radar. Now that he's here? Beware cliche statement ahead... I cannot imagine my life without him. His delivery did not go the way I expected, yet went how I thought it would in the back of my mind. Is that weird to say? Anyway, I had a baby and here's the story.

The last time I posted I was 40 weeks and one day, and my doctor had scheduled an induction for November 16. I wrote that I fully expected to be pregnant until the induction date and that ended up being the case. I had a doctor's appointment the day before d-day and baby still hadn't descended and I still wasn't dilated more than a 1/2 cm. I had experienced no contractions. My awesome doc says to me as I'm leaving, "It's a date. Hopefully we'll have a baby tomorrow but it might be Thursday."

Uh, no thanks.

I spent the rest of the 15th picking up a few odds and ends, crying for any reason at all, and packing my hospital bag. We didn't go to bed until midnight and stayed up talking until 1:30. J then fell asleep and I tossed and turned until my alarm went off at 5:15 am. A phone call to the hospital at 6:30 confirmed that they weren't busy and we should still be there at 7:30. In true Meghan fashion, we didn't arrive until 8 o'clock, but I can't be blamed. Someone *cough husband cough* took the busiest route to the hospital in rush hour traffic.

By 8:30 I was getting settled into the room I fully expected to see for the rest of the day. At 9:08 I sent this text to my mom: "Hi. Doc broke my water, haven't started Pitocin yet. He says Renner is as far up as he can be, which makes him think 'it's a pretty good sized baby. Not 10 or 11 lbs. but 9 is a possibility'. He said we r going to give this a 'college try' but a c section is def a possibility." Since Renner had not descended, I was told to stay in bed because they were afraid of cord prolapse. After this news I realized I had to pee and I started to worry how I was going to manage contractions stuck in bed. During all this J started not feeling well and the nurse had to tell him to go get something to eat before he passed out.

Pitocin was started at 10 and was cranked up a couple times before I started to feel anything.  My contractions were five or so minutes apart when the nurse came in and had me roll over on my left side. She started paying close attention to a monitor, so I did too.  I quickly learned we were watching my contractions and then learned we were watching my contractions as they related to Renner's heartbeat. My friend Krystal had stopped by at this time while in the middle of her glucose test (she's due in February with her 2nd girl and I wrote this post on the nursery art for her first daughter) and then my doctor came in and he started to discuss with the nurse what was happening and then explained it to us.

As I was in the middle of a contraction (now every 4 minutes), Renner's heartbeat was dropping from the 140's down to the 120's and even into the 110's. He would recover at the end of the contraction and would stay steady until the middle of the next contraction. The doctor checked me and now almost two hours after my water was broken and one hour into Pitocin, I had only progressed to a maybe 1 cm and Renner had still not dropped.

Instead of waiting all day to see if I would progress and risk putting Renner in danger, my doc made the call to do a c-section. He told the nurse and I that I had an excellent teaching case and that other doctors would have let me go all day vs. making a decision for a c-section so early.  He explained that at 41 weeks with no progress and already seeing this problem it likely wouldn't get better.  Oddly, my husband was totally relieved at this news.  He actually said the words, "I feel a lot better now."  My response, "You know this is major surgery?" He felt better because now we had a plan and we weren't going to spend the day waiting. As in, the doctor said we'd have a baby in 30 to 45 minutes.

My dad and cousin Callee stopped by just as we were getting the news on the c-section and I called my mom. J's mom just happened to be in town (suuuurre... lol) so she arrived within a few minutes and my mom left their house. I think I was in shock at this point. I had read about c-sections and somehow had it in the back of my mind that this is how it would end up, but until it became reality, didn't believe it. Nurses changed and luckily we were able to wait until my mom arrived. I didn't get emotional about what was happening until I saw my mom and we were headed out the delivery room door.

J was told to stay behind until they were ready to deliver so it was just me in a big delivery room with lots of doctors and nurses. The anesthesiologist did the spinal and after I laid down, he explained that he was going to use a series of pinches to test how much I could feel.  I could still feel everything. He decided to give me another spinal and this time it took. Later my nurse explained how lucky I was that he did the second spinal. Normally they are in such a hurry to get things done that if the first spinal doesn't take, they knock you out totally.

When J was brought in, the anesthesiologist explained to him that he could sit or stand... but don't expect to do both because whatever he would see would mean he wouldn't be standing as much as he would be passed out on the floor. At 12:01 pm, within 10 minutes of J getting there, I heard it... those first, amazing, ridiculously awesome cries from the other side of the curtain. It's just like those Lifetime movies... you hear those cries for the first time and it's waterworks. Soon, baby Renner was in my face, the most remarkable thing I'd ever seen.

Renner was cleaned and weighed, 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long. When I got to recovery, the first thing I saw was my husband holding our baby... even typing that now makes me cry. There's nothing more amazing than seeing two people you couldn't love more meeting each other. Before our family got to the room, I was able to breastfeed Renner. I was so set on tons of skin-to-skin contact after a vaginal birth and that was hard to give up with the c-section.

Our family and friends were able to come in and meet Renner in the recovery room because we were the only people there. I was afraid of how terrible I looked, so there aren't any great pics of Renner and me, but tons of pics of everyone else holding him. I kick myself now for caring what I looked like since I don't have that first picture of us or our first family picture. By 2:00, we were in our room on the maternity floor. I just kept looking at the clock saying, "I never thought we'd be up here by 2 o'clock. I thought I'd still be in labor."

Our hospital stay lasted Wednesday morning through Saturday night and we were so ready to come home. We had the best care from the best nurses and doctors. I'm so thankful that our situation worked out the way it did. My doc is getting one heck of a thank you note for looking out for us the way he did.

Funny note. After learning we were having a c-section, I said out loud, "Well, there goes my career at classy strip clubs. I'll be stuck working the day shift at Teasers (the bottom of the barrel in local strip joints)." Totally appropriate right?

we moved again!

2013-02-27T15:01:00.001-06:00

It just never gets old, writing a post on this blog about my moving. If you follow me on Instagram (meghana18), you saw the pic I posted two weeks ago of the new place. I actually posted it while J was getting the confirmation on the phone. We were due to move in this coming weekend, the first of March, but were able to move in last weekend so now we've moved. Again!

I feel really silly living in this house so far. It feels like I'm a guest in someone else's place, because really it is so beyond us. This house is just a slight modification of what our "dream" house would be. The dream was a basement house so we'd have two living spaces and a playroom for the kiddo. This house is all on one level, but it still has the two living spaces and room for a playroom. It's just three bedrooms, but twice the size of our old house. We don't need more bedrooms anyway... we don't have enough stuff for the place as it is now!

It's a nice subdivision on the far outskirts of the town we were already living in, with our house having just shy of two acres that are partially wooded. There are neighbors close, but not so close they can hear us yell at the tv. Part of the yard is fenced for our dog and there's a fantastic patio area shaded by a HUGE tree that we cannot wait to see in the spring. We also have access to the river that is less than 1/2 a mile away and we're still close to work and our families. I mean... when is the other shoe going to drop?

I wish I had more pictures to share with you, but all I have is a hodgepodge of pics that show the old occupant's things and pics at weird angles with different lighting in each one. We moved so quickly I didn't even have time to make one of my infamous lists of projects or ideas for each room... I know, I'm shocked too! This weekend will be more unpacking, some list making and a lot of picture taking so I can share this new place we call home!

keepin' it real: valentine's decor

2013-02-15T11:14:00.002-06:00

Time for another installment of keepin' it real. Yesterday I shared how I decorated for Valentine's Day, which was hardly at all really. I showed you my china cabinet and all the red and pink I could fit on the shelves. What I didn't show you was what the cabinet and it's surroundings looked like before I threw everything in another room and distracted the kid and dog. Today I show you what things really looked like.

It never fails when I try to photograph something, my good dog Daisy hops right in front like it's her big shot. I can't keep the drawers in the cabinet because Renner liked to open... and slam... the drawers as hard as possible and I knew we were asking for serious injury trouble so I pulled them. The rest, well, that's how it looks most of the time. Just keepin' it real!

Happy Friday :)

happy vday: valentine decor and a new blog design

2013-02-14T12:27:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope someone does something nice for you today, or that you've decided just to do something for yourself. I'm doing a little bit of both today, spreading the love and giving a little to myself. Tonight, my family of three is going out for a laid back dinner and maybe a Redbox movie after. R got a little goodie bag with bath toys, M&M's and a dinosaur sandwich cutter. I ordered my husband a Hoodie Pillow, which he's been talking about since seeing it on Shark Tank. They're back ordered due to high demand, but J was pretty excited when he pulled the picture I printed out of his card this morning.

Ridic, I know. He will actually use this thing. I'm not kidding.

As a gift to myself, I had this old blog redecorated. I worked with Grey Loves Design on etsy and she was fab. I had to email her with a cry for help and she solved all my problems. If you visited in the last month, you may have seen a different blog name but 'the story so far' is back and (hopefully) better than ever. I liked the name I temporarily changed to, but paying for two domains and dealing with all of that was just not worth it. I think it will make a perfect name for my business (which is what, I still don't know) so I'm just going to keep it in my back pocket for now.

Today is also my amazing sister's birthday. She has HATED sharing her bday with vday forever, so we try to gloss over the red hearts and whatnots in favor of all things birthday. She just had a sweet baby boy a week and a half ago so I wished her lots of naps and a super happy baby. Happy 26th, sister! Bet you never thought you'd be celebrating it with a little guy of your own!

After the Christmas decorations came down and while recovering from the two parties I hosted during holiday season, I just didn't have it in me to go full out with my valentine decor. I started to decorate my weird mantel (you can see most of it here), but I'm so over that thing. Some might think that two mantels mean more decorations, but it just meant headaches for me. Do I decorate the top or the bottom shelf? Both? Here's the answer: NEITHER. Instead, I focused on my family/vintage china cabinet.

Forgive the lighting. The cabinet is in the worst spot to photograph with no natural light getting anywhere near it. It doesn't help that I snapped this at 5:30 am with my phone and the living room, hallway, and guest bath lights on to try and brighten it. Pic FAIL.

When I decorate this cabinet, I just pull from my reserves which I conveniently store inside. This time, I pulled all the red and pink I could find. I always have pictures of my little guy and a combination of DIYs, gifts and clearance finds. The little R on the bottom shelf is the most recent purchase - clearance from Michaels. It's actually a Christmas ornament! Use whatcha got, girl.

(Holy hell cats these pictures are terrible. Scout's honor they will not be this bad again!)

Up top is more of the same. My DIY chalkboard, an antique candy dish from my grandma and a DIY tip jar from our wedding make a great mix of old and new. Decorating this cabinet is so much easier and more fun than my mantel! No stress and really, I could leave this up past V-Day and no one would think twice. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I can't leave this up because it needs to be packed away... for moving... again...

How did you decorate for the holiday for love? Do you have big plans tonight? What do you think of the new blog design? If you follow me on Instagram, you could have helped pick the design...

I'm using the italics like subliminal advertising... You're following me on Instagram now, aren't you?

the days before the wedding (a diary entry for me)

2013-01-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

*while cleaning up my blog in hopes of firing it back up, I looked through the drafts and found the entries I did on my wedding. here's part 1, I guess, of the details leading up to the big day. pictures will finally come next. originally written on December 22, 2010*

I don't want to forget this past weekend. I keep reading that I should get my wedding on paper... but this is the best I can do for now. We're on our "honeymoon" (aka "staycation") so I'm sitting through the 'Book of Eli' (I've already wikipediad'ed the plot because I know I'll inevitably miss the key parts) and I'm guessing I'll just start somewhere.

The week of the wedding (December 13-19) was also finals week at school. I had put off all wedding related items for the week before finals because I had MAJOR projects due (remember the taking volunteers post?) so that left finals week a mad dash to complete wedding madness. I tried to get what finals I could out of the way early on in the week, but this still meant I was working on school stuff up to Wednesday night. On Wednesday morning, my to-do list looked like this (everything completed by Wednesday evening is in purple):

Decide on Old/New/Borrowed/Blue
Gather all accessories and odds & ends
Type & cut escort cards
Type & print programs
Cake cards
String on escort displays
Count jars
Paint signs
Wrap gifts, write notes for bridesmaids
Buy fabric for pipe & drape, entry table, piano top
Buy general cake servers and our cake server
Schedule spray tan, nail appointment
Color hair
Paint toenails
Finish fabric chandy
My bouquet
6 boutoneires
Make more bunting
Burn "Belief" for DJ
Print timelines for DOC, DJ and myself
Cake table box layout
Make ring pillow
Pack everything
Make ribbon wands
Make mini cake buntings
Finish cake topper initials
Write checks for vendors
Pay for cakes
Finish English final
Type English blog review
Take on campus part of Religion final

And I got all of it done except for this stuff:

What did this mean? This meant I stayed awake Thursday night (morning?) until 5:30 am. Justin went to the bowling alley that night and stayed gone until close to midnight. I wanted so badly to be mad at him for being able to go out and chill with his friends while I busted my butt, but I later realized this was senseless, as the odds of me actually letting him do anything to help were slim to none. I'd rather do something myself than take the time to explain it AND risk it not being done the way I wanted.

Sometime in the early morning hours, I watched 'Clerks II' on Comedy Central and snapped these pics of the completed bouquets and completed boutonnieres:

At 5:00 am I made myself lay down... I was asleep not too long after 5:30. Duke woke me up at 8:00 and it was all systems go. Justin was already gone, picking up the rental tables with his dad and delivering those before a chiropractors appointment and his work Christmas lunch at The Blue Hair Cafe (aka Heritage Cafeteria). I can't even remember what I did that morning... but I know it involved running around, coffee, and picking up our tablecloths.

At the tablecloth rental place, the owner said, "You're getting married tomorrow?" I answered yes and she proceeded to tell me I was VERY calm for someone about to get married in 24 hours. After leaving there, I started trying to hyperventilate. I kept taking VERY deep breaths and was speeding to get to the location just so I could be around people (this seemed to be a running theme... being around people made me not freak out). I wasn't nervous about the wedding, I was nervous about getting everything done. I was looking at this as a job... that had to be completed or I'd suffer utter FAIL-dom.

Justin was at the firehouse before he was due at his Christmas lunch, so we unloaded my car and our day-of-coordinator/friend of the family showed up to help set up. We started with tables, then chairs. My cousin/friend/bridesmaid, her husband and sweet daughter came to help as well, followed by my aunt (cousin/friend/bridesmaid's mom) and another bridesmaid later on. We got the tablecloths out, ran the black kraft paper runners down the tables and started on the jars and table numbers. Justin left early on and I would've been doing set-up alone had it not been for cousin, husband, aunt, friend of family. LIFE SAVERS.

I sent everyone on their way except the bridesmaid that had just shown up with her sweet baby boy when Justin got back. My mom also go there... which was wonderful. We worked on hanging the fabric chandelier and then left to change clothes and come back for the rehearsal. Before coming back to the rehearsal, we purchased wine for the reception.

We pulled up at the firehouse and Justin dropped me off to unlock the door for those waiting on us and for some reason in that moment, I got nervous. Nervous that I was just about to start practicing my wedding. A wedding that was the very next day. ZOMG.

We got everyone gathered and ran through the ceremony. It went quickly and we only needed one time through. We ordered pizza and hung around, chatting, working on odds and ends. We assembled the cake table, my parents and sisters finished the second escort card display and I puttered around doing last minute arranging. Our bunting was hung from the super high ceilings thanks to a home-builder groomsman and I left Justin there with a few of the guys, knowing that I still had to do the seating arrangements and stamp the escort cards.

At home, I tried to work on the seating assignments but the table numbers were off so I was only able to do one side. After a shower, I burned the song we were walking down the aisle to and fell into bed to pass out nearly immediately at 1:30 am. Sleepy time for the bride...

a word for 2013: better

2013-01-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

{via}

Surely you've heard of this word of the year/one little word business. The simple explanation is that you pick a word to meditate/concentrate on for the year to uplift and cause positive change in your life. Lots of people do it and after a few years of reading the effects it has had on others, I've decided that this will be the year I join in.

For 2013, my word is BETTER.

As a verb, it means to improve on or surpass.

Better isn't about being better than someone else. This isn't about creating a level of competition in my life. I want to stop comparing myself against others and start concentrating on who I am now and what I can do better. I could be a better mom/wife/daughter/friend/employee/Christian/person... but it is more than the labels I claim for myself. I want to be a better me.

I want to be in better health... lose the extra weight I'm carrying around. I want to cook more, eat more whole foods, and set a good example for my kiddo. I want to learn to deal with my feelings, instead of trying to quiet them with food.

I want to be better at being in this moment. Not dwelling in the past and not stewing over the future. I waste so much energy worrying about everything. Things I have no control over. Things that shouldn't matter. I spend so much time in my own head, thinking about what I should've/could've/would've done differently. It has to stop.

I want to be better at doing what I say I'm going to do. If I told you I'd be there at 10, I'll be there at 10. Maybe even before 10, but I'm not going to push it. If I told you I would call back, I'll call back. If I told you I would make x, y, z, I will actually make it. If I say I'm going to try harder and be better, I will.

I want to kick procrastination to the curb and be better at starting and finishing projects. You guys should see my craft/crap room. It is absolutely full of projects that are not finished or not even started. My master bedroom has two walls with new paint swatches on it... it's been 6 months. My new-ish painted kitchen has nothing on the walls. It looks like we just moved in! And the baby book that I was going to DIY? Not even started, and my little is almost 14 months old. The madness has to stop.

I want to be a better money manager. In 2012 I got a really go grip on where the money was going. Now it has to be fixed. Our life could be absolutely and totally different, if only we were better with our funds.

I want to be a better writer. I loved to write in high school. I saw my high school English teacher at a wedding a few years ago and when I told her what I was up to (which was nothing, really), she said, "Why aren't you writing?" Yeah. Why aren't I? I like it, I have plenty of ideas, so what's the hang up? It might be ugly at first, but I know once I get going I know I'll be proud of myself for getting back to it.

I want to tap into my spiritual side and better my relationship with God. Too many of my prayers are lifted up in desperation and not enough prayers are lifted up in thankfulness. When I am consistent in church, reading my Bible (phone app) and keeping decent music on the radio, I'm in a much better place. I'm a better {insert all the labels above here} when I'm in touch with God.

I actually considered getting "better" tattooed somewhere a few years ago because all I kept thinking was things will get better. Tomorrow will be a better day. It has to get better, because it can't get much worse. While I'm lucky today to not have to cling to those thoughts as often, I still do remind myself that it can always get better. This word of the year has really been a long time coming.

The bottom line is that I want to feel better. If I can pray more, buy less, write more, eat less, create more, worry less, feeling better can and will come.

2013 is the year of better.

keepin’ it real: Christmas home tour

2012-12-24T20:07:00.000-06:00

Bloggers every where are sharing their Christmas home tours, with trees full of homemade ornaments, mantels with swags of fresh evergreen and quilted stockings, tablescapes so perfect and glittery your heart actually melts. Well, I'm going to keep it real and show you what Christmas at our house looks like.

I capital letters, bold face LOVE Christmas. I have totes full of decorations in our attic. I plan all year the projects I want to do, from home decor to handmade gifts. I had a hard time dragging all of my Christmas stuff out this year. We had Renner's first birthday party at home a week before Thanksgiving, so I didn't put anything up until after the holiday which is not normal for me. Then I hosted my sister's shower this week, so I didn't even hang our stockings until after the party Wednesday. I also have a serious hankering for a load of new decorations. I didn't bring out half of my decor... I think I have the 7 year itch with my current stuff!

Another great reason for the scaled back decor? This little firecracker, who is picture above using his farm silo as a step stool to touch the buttons on our DVR receiver. He's already climbing on everything, so I left the Christmas village and most of the breakables in their safe place. I also didn't decorate the bottom two feet of the tree, save his own little area complete with his ornament for this year (a sock monkey baseball player), a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figurine and a soft cupcake ornament.

Are you a gifts under the tree before Christmas type of person? I'm not. Growing up, gifts didn't come out until my mom, dad, sis and I opened gifts Christmas Eve night. My husband? Wants gifts under the tree as soon as that bad boy goes up. What you see under the tree are the gifts he purchased. Oh and I almost forgot! Bloggers are also showing off their wrapping scheme. I love a good wrapping scheme and have had some great ones in the past. Aforementioned husband always has his gifts wrapped at the mall for a charitable donation, so any planned scheme is thrown out the window. And you know what? I kinda like it. I actually caught myself looking for Yo Gabba Gabba wrapping paper for Renner's gifts. While it isn’t his first Christmas, it is the first Christmas he which he will be an active participant.

I usually cover the mantel in all sorts of greenery and floral picks, but this year I not only wanted something clean and simple, but I knew I wouldn’t be decorating until the week before Christmas. I drew a big fat blank. I think all my mantel decorating skillz went to the two parties (more on those to come) and here we sit, with the most clean and simple mantel ever (not quite what I had in mind).

The jars that have been up since the first of November stayed, my DIY chalkboard stayed and my old stockings stayed. The St. Louis stocking was originally Renner’s, but I started filling it up and not much fit. So it became my husband’s (not like he put up a fight) and the plaid stocking I bought him for our first Christmas together became Renner’s. Mine is the sweater stocking from Target years ago (they still make them) and Daisy’s stocking is the sad cheap-o velvet one on the end. I make this vow to you right now… next year, if I nothing else changes, we will all have new stockings.

Is there a wreath on my door? No. Are there lights on the outside of our house? No. I have a few trinkets on my china hutch and book shelf, but that’s where it ends. I’m just keeping it real, folks.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!

Planning a First Birthday Party

2012-10-19T22:34:00.001-05:00

There's less than thirty days before my little will be one. In a few fleeting moments, I feel as thought this has been the longest year of my life. Mostly though I feel this year has absolutely flown by. Fastest year of my life. I can't believe I've not slept longer than 5 hours in a year. What a depressing stat that is! I've planned this party in my head since before he arrived. I know that Renner won't know it's his party and won't remember it, but I will. And really, I kinda feel like this is a party for me, too.

Based on the lists I have for this first birthday party, you might think I'm planning another wedding. Just like my wedding, I'm DIY'ing a lot of elements plus we're having the party in our house. Finding room for 25 to 35 people in our house is a list on it's own! I tried to find a venue that wasn't a cinder block basement room and when I couldn't, I started striking deals with my hubby. For the party to be at home, we have to get a new couch and paint the kitchen and living room. J is still insisting we need a new TV but that's just not happening. We're not doing anything I wouldn't want to do anyway, so I think it's a win-win.

We all know I love a good list and this party needs to be amazing. I've made plans for the theme, each area of activity, and the food. Straight from my handy dandy notebook, my planning notes:

Renner's First Birthday!

Farm theme - main colors red/blue/white/black
Patterns and textures - cow print, burlap, gingham

3 Zones

* Gifts (living room)
* Eating & Activity (garage)
* Food (kitchen)

Gifts (living room)
Centered around fireplace

Cardboard display barn
Accordion flowers
'Happy Birthday Renner' or 'Renner is One' bunting
Monthly photo display (above couch)

Eating & Activity (garage)
3 - 6 ft folding tables
18-24 folding chairs + 2 stools

White tablecloths, red gingham or burlap runners
Mason jar centerpieces

Kid table activities (farm coloring pages, crayons, ?)

Food (kitchen)
2 - 6 ft folding tables

White tablecloths, red gingham or burlap runners
Wall behind sweets table - accordion flower display
Ceiling - streamers

Sweets Table
Cow patch cake (for everyone)
Cow patch smash cake (vegan for Renner)
Cupcakes (by Flour Power Bakery) with animal picks and gingham liners
Mini caramel apples
S'more pops
Cow chow (aka puppy chow/muddy buddies; vegan recipe)
Hen scratch (aka chex mix)
Fruit skewers ?

Chili Bar
Crockpot of chili
Fritos/Tortilla chips
Onion/tomato/cheese/sour cream/jalapenos

Water/Tea/Coffee
Ice
Plates/Bowls/Cups/Cutlery/Napkins

Other

Outside - balloons on mailbox, bunting on porch, balloon wreath

High chair - 'I am one' sign

Kid gift bags

Renner party outfit

Renner cake outfit

This isn't the only list I have. In addition to the master list, there is a furniture list (pieces needed and what needs to be moved), supply list, food list, guest list, and complete project list (all the DIYs I need to work on). Six lists. And that won't be all. Closer to the party I'll have food prep breakdown and a daily task list for decorating and food. I'm actually kind of impressed with myself, so if you're thinking I'm crazy, don't tell me!

I've wanted the farm theme since before Renner was even born. When you think about it, you really only get the first and maybe second birthdays to choose the theme for your kid's parties. After that, they know what they want and can ask for it. I grew up on a farm, so I'm a sucker for all things barns/tractors/cows. Pinterest fueled my need for a farm themed first birthday party. Speaking of Pinterest... here are some images from my 'Renner's First Birthday' board.

Source: karaspartyideas.blogspot.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Source: rusticweddingchic.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Source: karaspartyideas.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Source: catchmyparty.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Where am I in the to-do list? All the accordion flowers are done, the DIY'ed invitations are done and waiting on chevron bags (for the first time, I was hosed by a seller on Etsy!), and I've purchased the supplies for the buntings, cardboard display barn, and other bits and pieces. This week and next week I plan to purchase the rest of the supplies. We also have paint for the kitchen (we're probably not painting the living room) and got a new couch and chair this week. Thanks to craigslist we got the couch shape and style I really wanted for cheap. We can deal with the current fabric for now (more on this later!) but it's really dying for slipcovers in the near future. At least I'm marking things off the crazy list.

A few years ago I received a comment on a post: "Written dryness, but an okay read." Does an entire post about a to-do list deserve that same response?

An addiction to stripes continues: a bathroom plan

2012-07-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

If you follow me on Instagram (I just went private – side eye creepers) you know the stripes are up in the little’s room. My thoughts? I.am.in.love. I have always loved stripes in décor and fashion but I don’t have any in my home, until now. Really? These stripes are my new best friend. I wrote this post where I pondered the possibility of too many stripes. Now I think I don’t care to OD on stripes. I want to put them on all the things. Okay, look, you’re going to want stripes too.

I KNOW. You love it too. You really want to love it? Let’s do a before and after:

It’s so good. I wanted these stripes when I started, but I didn’t think I could do it. But I did it (it’s so easy – my next post will be about how easy it is!) and did I mention I love it? Of course, I’ve made other changes, from minimizing what’s on the walls, changing the bedding, removing furniture. I’m so refreshed over this room. It’s amazing what a little stripe in your life will do… Renner’s room is still in progress because I need to buy a few things, like a rug, crib skirt, and book shelves. I’m also figuring out what will go back up on the walls, but a simple purchase today has set my sights on another room: the hall bath.

Renner has gotten too big (read: too brave) for his baby tub on the kitchen counter (also read: boohooooooo) so his move to the “big boy” tub required I buy a bath mat. Off to Bed Bath & Beyond we went for one cushy baby bum appropriate bath mat. As soon as we got home, I went straight to the hall bath, pulled back the shower curtain and started cleaning. And removing things. And the wheels started turning. There was something about putting down a seriously basic mat in the tub that suddenly made the bathroom Renner’s, and not just the hall bath. This image popped into my head:

(via)

This beautiful bath is meant for… wait for it… a baseball loving kid. It doesn’t look that way a first, does it? It is absolutely ~~acceptable~~ perfect for a hall bath that would be used by company and a splash-lovin’ kiddo. Here’s a look at the bathroom as it looks at this exact moment:

Why are you making changes? It’s so beautifully decorated as is!

Where is that sarcasm font when you need it…

In my quest to bring stripes to every room, I found a shower curtain at Target a few weeks ago and knew it would be mine somehow. Little did I know that things would fall together just so and it would find it’s place in Renner’s new bathroom. I should have snapped a pic in store today, because they don’t carry this curtain online. Picture the shower curtains above, but in white and navy… and it’s only $14.99! It’s not as long as the curtains pictured above so I’ll have to hang it short which I really don’t like, or find a solution. While I love that the inspo pic has two curtains framing a beautifully tiled tub surround, my not so fancy surround won’t get any special treatment.

This is a West Elm shower curtain that is so similar to Target’s. This price tag? $39.

I’m going with a navy/grey/white theme, which is where I seem to be going in Renner’s room. Navy will be the accent color, so grey and white are left to fight it out for wall color and sink cabinet color. Initially I thought white walls because the rest of the house is going white and then a grey cabinet. However, since we are renters, painting the sink cab* white will make it easier on future tenants/owners. What art/décor I had also has to change (what a shame – not). I’m wondering now, do I go with a sports theme, subtly of course, or not?

Okay, okay. Enough rambling about another project (that will no doubt take forever). What do you think? Do your kids share a bathroom with possible guests? Do I decorate with sports or not?

* We have the greatest landlord. She’s told us to what we wish, as long as it can be removed/painted over/fixed back or works for the house. Painting that sink cabinet is only going to help things. Trust.

What in the actual heck... my blog pictures are gone. GONE!

2012-06-19T22:14:00.000-05:00

This is me right now. I has the sads.

Because I don't have the time right now, half of my pictures would disappear from my blog. According to the grand internets, I must have deleted my pictures from my phone/computer/god only knows. I did get a new phone. But I uploaded the pictures to my computer - and they're still there. The only moving of pictures was done months ago and I didn't have any problems then. The only solution is to go through and replace.every.picture. I'm being really dramatic and should probably use this time to fix the problem, but I'd rather boo-hoo about it instead.

This upsets me because I don't get a lot of computer time. Three things have to happen for me to be bloggin':

1. Husband has to not be on laptop.

2. Baby has to be asleep.

3. All the things that have waited all day to be done have to be, well, done.

Do you know how the stars align and these three things happen? I'm averaging being on the computer every 3-4 days. I'm not able to write posts, much less fix posts I've already written. And really, I have two baskets of laundry at my feet waiting to be folded and crock pot applesauce needing to be pureed. So right now, I'm a cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eater.

Wah. I'm sure you're all out there playing the world's tiniest violin just for me. Is it possible I don't have to replace all the pictures? Did I just turn something off that I shouldn't have and didn't realize it? If you know what the heck I messed up - do tell. I'll share the salt water taffy I'm drowning my sorrows in. Just in case you're wondering, there were only two neapolitan taffys in the whole bag and I ate them already.

Okay. Now help me.

I’ve gotten a wild hair. Or hairs. You know.

2012-06-12T12:00:00.000-05:00

First of all, thank you so much to those that commented on the last post about privacy and bloggy business. Your feedback was great and really brought me to a final decision (for now). There are extremes in blogging: too anonymous or waaaaay over sharing. A lot of the speculation falls on mommy blogs and their exposing intimate moments with their children all for a buck. Well, a mommy blog I’m not (and I make no dollars), but that doesn’t mean you won’t hear about and see my little or hear stories about my husband. And who doesn’t have a blog these days? I’ve decided the litmus test will be, “Would I let my grandma read this?” If the answer is no… it’s a no go for the internet. My Facebook is private, my Instagram may soon be as well. What makes the blog different? Less pictures of my kid and my family, more crappy DIY. Exciting, right?

Whew. Privacy panic attack finally over.

In other news… I’ve been dying to paint something in this house. I was dead set on painting the kitchen and living room but I can’t decide on a paint color and really the idea of painting these rooms (lots of cutting in and vaulted ceilings) with a quite mobile 7 month old around makes me very nervous. So instead, I set my sights on making the changes in Renner’s room. I think it was changing the curtains and sheets for white and removing the closet doors that really got me going. Right now, Renner’s room is absolutely destroyed. Look:

Not so bad you say?

There are 85 books in that corner.

At least most of the hanging clothes are hanging? That’s something… but let’s pay more attention to the first picture. I measured and taped the stripes, and with the laser level I now have in hand I should have them double checked today and start painting. I am so excited. I wanted these stripes (and a chalkboard wall) before but I’d never done it and time started ticking away. I had no idea how easy it really was. Given I don’t have paint on the wall yet and my change my story after tomorrow.

While looking for white paint for the stripes, I found the gallon of light grey that had been purchased for the kitchen when we bought paint for Renner’s room. Since I no longer plan to use that grey in the kitchen, enter wild hair #1. It’s a change from what I imagined but I tried that color out in the master bedroom and love it. Given, I think anything would be a change from the two shades of green currently in the room, but the grey would be great regardless. The plan now is to get the stripes done in Renner’s room, then paint the master. Then maybe a chalkboard wall, some bathroom cabinet painting…

We also had a storm come through a few weeks ago that ruined the big tree in our front yard. The tree was a sad tree anyway, since half of it was gone after an ice storm a few years ago but it finally had to come down. The problem is that our yard is wide open and you can see the front of the house from the street now and our landscaping is hot mess. It was bad before but now that you can really see it? U-G-L-Y… we have no alibi. Another wild hair? We’ve decided to do something about it. I need help in this area because I’m not necessarily a black thumb but I’m totally clueless with what to plant where and how to care for it. I’m researching some things now and look forward to sharing more about this in a bit.

And for today’s final wild hair (literally), I’m going to cut my hair off. Maybe a big chop. I love the idea of long hair and really love a long hair pony tail. However – my hair doesn’t really have any style right now besides hanging there and when you sport a pony every day, it’s not so cute any more. My kid also really likes to grab a hold of my pony tail and jerk. Hard. I used to always have short hair and I still want hair that is long enough to be pulled back. Other than that, I don’t know what kind of style or just how short I want to go. I need help. Offer suggestions, please! Share them with me on Facebook or tag me on Pinterest. I’m serious here.

Experiencing (blog) radio silence.

2012-06-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

Things have been quiet around here because I don’t have anything to say. Which is true and not true all at the same time. I have a lot I’d write about my personal life, but not any generally vague projects or design inspired posts. I struggle with my privacy on the blog – how much to share and when. Now that I’ve added my little to the mix, it’s even harder. On one hand, I want to blog the crap out of stuff, but sharing my family’s intimate details in a public format is weird. One day, my son may apply for a job or for college and when they google his name, his mom’s nutty blog from years ago pops up. Do I share his bath time pictures? Will his college roommate print the pictures and post them around their dorm in 20 years? Does his future wife google him and find a poop in the tub post (apparently this happens to everyone) before their first date?

I know the odds of anyone really finding and reading posts like that are probably slim to none. But I’m also shocked at the search terms people use to find my blog. Pictures I posted of our Vegas vacation ended up on a very bizarre website with content from around the web. It wasn’t just pictures of the strip or of a certain landmark. These were pictures of my husband and me on some website I’d never heard of but was getting a lot of traffic from. It was weird enough that it was the two of us, but I can’t imagine checking my traffic to find a picture of my baby on a totally different website being looked at by god knows who.

I play around with the idea of starting an anonymous blog where I could write whatever I wanted to. But then, what pictures do I use? I’ve already started to limit what pictures I share on my personal Facebook and I’m starting to wonder about the pictures I share on Instagram. I also worry about some day in the future where I may re-enter the work force. Will a future employer google my name, find this site and not be happy with the amount of my life that I’ve shared publicly? Will just my writing put someone off? Will some angry post show up first and paint me in a whiny/immature manner? Crap… Is that what this post is doing?

I’m terrible with keeping a journal and had thought a blog would be a good way to keep track of my life as I get older… maybe a private blog is the only way to do that. But I like to write. I really enjoy it when I can write about what’s really in my mind and heart. Someday, I might like people to read this stuff and also enjoy it. What’s on my mind and heart though is my every day – my husband, my child, my dog, my parents, my sister, my friends… And yet, sharing that is scary.

I’d like to know… how do you decided how much to share on your blog? Do you ever have the same concerns or do you figure it’s just a sign of the times?

Three Years

2012-05-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

This was a week for birthdays. Wednesday, my Daisy Dog’s 5th birthday. Thursday, my blog’s 3rd birthday.

Three years of a whole lot, yet not much.

Over the three years, my posting has been sporadic – the tag line “Blogging inconsistency since 2009” was born. Then I made a commitment to post more and the inconsistency is related now to my topics. Some days I feel like over sharing about my kid, some days I wish I’d never brought him to the intranets. I blogged about my sick dog but never had the guts to post about what happened to him. I never shared my wedding. I started out posting only about interior design and decor and somewhere changed course to talking about whatever it is I talk about now.

Looking back at three years is interesting. I moved ~~three~~ four times (house to apartment to a house to another house to this house). I lived alone when I started blogging, now I’m married with a 6 month old baby. I left a job that sucked the life from me, went to work for my parents, now I stay at home with aforementioned baby and dog. In the course of this blog, I’ve managed to fully decorate only one room of the several rooms from several homes I’ve shared – Renner’s room in our current house – and I’m already changing it. I’ve changed my writing style a couple times (generalized, mean, whiny, etc.) and changed the name even more (The Cottage Apartment, JandM, Your Mom’s Blog, City Farmhouse). I’ve written so many posts that were never published. Despite not sharing a lot of my personal life until recently, I can look back at certain posts and remember what was going on that day and why I wrote that post a certain way – I was hopeful, negative, or at a standstill.

My first post in 2009 (other than the obligatory “look I started a blog!” post) was about this bed:

Which I still love, by the way.

In 2010, I didn’t even recognize my blog b-day. The closest post is one where I shared something I wrote in high school about who I wanted to be. In 2010, and even now in 2012 – I still wish I could be that girl (or woman. Do I have to say woman now that I'm 27 with a baby? Someone define girl.):

Just for today I will be who I want me to be. I will dress as I wish, mismatched and comfortable, flip-flops and dress pants, green t-shirts and orange undershirts, with a blue polka dot tie as a belt. I will wear my hair as I wish, scrunched up and messy, twists and turns that beg for attention. Just for today I will speak my mind and say what I've bottled up inside all this time. I will tell you when you annoy me, interrupt me, and let you know that all this time I knew you were using me. I won't care what your response is because just for today, I can say what I want, because that's who I to be. When you say that I look stupid, I'll simply smile and turn away, because just for today, I'm who I want me to be.

In 2011, the day before this anniversary I wrote about the Joplin, Missouri tornado. I was 9 weeks pregnant.

I’ve written 226 posts. In three years – almost 1100 days – that’s not very good. But I’ve written almost as many posts at the halfway point of this year as I did in 2010 and 2011. If it wasn’t for Brooklyn Limestone, who I did a blog spotlight on and reached out to for a few questions early on, this blog would have no traffic. Just being in her blog roll – which is an honor! – gets me almost all of my visitors.

My most popular post to date is the one all about Pinterest. I deleted all the pictures from that post because the images I shared were being pinned from my blog, but they were someone else’s. So really, that post now has nothing in it and probably because of cached pictures, it gets crazy hits. The next popular? My lazy man’s guide to painting paneling. It ended up on Pinterest (without me pinning it first!). Shocking – someone actually thought my “instructions” were worth pinning! My favorite post might be “My pants are so tight I wrote an entire post about it”, which was written when I was 19 1/2 weeks pregnant. I love this post about my dogs “Why I don’t get things done” - mostly because of the pictures. And my little’s one month pictures post is so sweet to me. Oh and this year’s home goals post is great because we all know I am a sucker for a to-do list, and this post is one big to-do list.

I love this blog. I love what (little) I’ve done here in three years and I hope in another three years I’m still here but that I have so much more to look back on. I want to thank every single reader that has stopped by here whether it’s once or you keep coming back for more. The 207 comments I’ve received have been read and saved. I had 4,500 page views last month, but to the 4 page views I’ve had yesterday – thank you (no really – just 4 page views yesterday). I’ve got some exciting things up my sleeve. It might take three years to get them done… I kid! I kid! But really….

Photo Dump Tuesday

2012-05-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

I should start numbering my Photo Dump Tuesdays so I know how many I’ve done. I mean, Live Writer does it because they have to save it under a different name so it wouldn’t be that hard. I’d just have to go back and change all the posts I’ve already written…

Never mind. I am that lazy today.

The prettiest.

If you follow me on Instagram (user name: thestorysofar_blog) you know this story already. I ordered this hamper thinking I was getting a really good deal on a cute laundry hamper. When the box arrived I thought, “Great, something else I have to put together.” Then I opened it… and it’s a tabletop hamper. 1. What the heck does one need a tabletop hamper for? and 2. What the heck am I going to do with this thing? The great deal on the full size hamper turned out to be a not so great deal on a mini hamper. Boo.

Introducing Renner to the good stuff.

My full time job now is laundry.

Mob Wives Reunion. I wouldn’t stand a chance around these “ladies”.

Rolling around.

Happy Tuesday!

Goals for the Week

2012-05-21T15:14:00.000-05:00

I just got home from taking Renner to his 6 month wellness ~~and shots from hell~~ check-up. Even though I’m writing this at noon on Monday, there are no guarantees as to when I’ll post it. Not only is the poor kid teething, but he’s been sleeping terribly, refusing to nap and then, the shots. My sanity might come into question at any time this week.

I think I’m just warning you.

Last week’s goals were:
1. ~~Cook dinner at least 5 nights~~ 2. ~~Clean and re-organize Renner’s room~~
3. Clean and re-organize craft room
4. Install Facebook widget on blog
5. ~~Wait in ridiculous anticipation for the Grey’s Anatomy season finale. OMG.~~

Last week I cooked exactly 5 nights, meeting my goal. We had BLTS, BBQ chicken and buffalo chicken pizzas, taco joes, brats and potato salad, and baked potato nachos. Dinner was really good every night and I didn’t make anything too crazy so it was all pretty simple to put together. Taco joes were a hit. Justin actually woke me up to tell me they were good, which I could’ve killed him for but it was nice to hear.

It took most of the day Friday, but I cleaned Renner’s room finally. After removing the closet doors and selling the armoire, I had a pile of stuff covering most of the floor for longer than I’d like to admit. I’d also not put any of his clothes away in a very long time. It was bad. You know what I learned is good for your core? Hanging curtains while standing in a rocking chair. My abs *may* have been sore the next day. Or they weren’t. You’ll never know. But I hung barely off white curtains instead of the brown I had up. His room immediately looked lighter and brighter and more kid-friendly. I also put on a white crib sheet and removed the crib skirt. After some mad organizing (the kid has 85 books thanks to his Grammy) his room looks a billion times better. Now if only I could get that handy hubby of mine to build the pallet bookshelves…

Did you watch Grey’s Anatomy? Before hitting play on the DVR I considered holding out and waiting to watch it… as in waiting til the season opener in the fall. I knew someone was going to die and it just made me nervous. I hope this isn’t a spoiler for you but I’m really unhappy about Lexie. She’d just told Mark she loved him! She was one of my favorites and her death was one of my worst case scenarios. I could care less about Teddy leaving because I knew her exit was the only way Christina would stay at Seattle Grace. I feel like the season opener might bring more good byes though – maybe Arizona? I just hate the idea of Callie losing another spouse (ex or not). I know the actors were all really really good in that episode. It’s going to make for a very long summer, for sure.

I don’t even know what to say about that craft room. It’s going on this week’s list again. I tried installing the Facebook widget and I’m just dumb and can’t figure it out. I used to be super computer smart, but I guess that’s all gone now. If anyone has any handy tips on installing that dang widget, please help. xoxo

So this weeks list is this:
1. Craft room. Period.
2. Cook dinner 5 out of 7 nights.
3. Be prepared for Saturday’s garage sale before Saturday morning.
4. Do Tracy Anderson video 4 times.

The only thing standing in the way of that craft room is keeping my kiddo entertained while doing it. Since the room is pretty jampacked as it is and it has hardwood floors, he has to spend most of the time in his play gym. He loves his play gym, but it only lasts a good 20 minutes before he’s bored. I need a whole bunch of 20 minutes to get that room finished. Seriously.

What are your goals for this week and thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy?

Photo Dump Tuesday

2012-05-15T12:01:00.002-05:00

After a busy couple days, today is the day we stay home and I clean.

And do laundry.

And clean some more.

And steam mop the kitchen floor.

And do laundry.

And Renner has a tooth poking through.

And do laundry.

Ad nauseum.

We got our first Veggie Box delivery. All organic fruits and veg – delivered to your door!

I spotted these HUGE marshmallows. I didn’t buy any. I regret that.

Last week I burned bacon and wrecked this pan in the oven (how I always make bacon but I was out of foil). I then tried to make more bacon in another pan. Then I tried the stove. And the microwave. Then I gave up. We did not have BLTs that night.

Even though I had to order this online, I did look at it in the store. Car seats should have warnings that say, “Car seat will be larger IRL than they appear in store.” We may have to buy a different vehicle.

Ren woke from a nap and was sitting in my lap. He then leaned over, put his forehead against my arm and fell back asleep. Poor kiddo.

Roses for Mother’s Day.

We had a garage sale Saturday. While waiting for “customers”, Renner’s only concern was getting Daisy closer to him.

Welcome to my new SITS friends joining from Spring Fling!

Happy Tuesday!

Goals for the week. It’s Monday, isn’t it?

2012-05-14T12:00:00.000-05:00

If you’re a momma to a human baby, a four legged baby, a whatever baby – I hope yesterday was wonderful for you. It was my first and we didn’t really do anything out of the ordinary. Justin asked me on the way to church if I felt any different, and I quickly answered yes. It really hit me when we were at church and they played a video of all the things moms do for their children every day and our campus pastor asked all the moms to stand for a little recognition. I was holding Renner and I felt so strange standing with other mothers… and it was all I could do to hold back the tears. I never imagined myself as a mother, so it was a feeling I just can’t describe. What a blessing it is to have this little guy.

Last week I set just two goals for myself:

1. ~~Price garage sale items, have garage sale~~
2. Make Mother’s Day gifts

We had our garage sale and I think because of our late start didn’t do as well as we could’ve. I have way too much junk left over! I didn’t sell hardly any of my stuff or the baby stuff, but Justin did sell a lot of his stuff. Go figure. We’re throwing the idea around of having another sale next Saturday to see if we can unload any more, but if that doesn’t work, it’s all being donated.

The Mother’s Day gifts were attempted, but abandoned. I just didn’t have the patience to figure it out so I put it aside to try again another day. I did finish my sister’s birthday present. My sister’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day, so at this rate my mom can expect her Mother’s Day gift in August.

This week’s goals:

1. Cook dinner at least 5 nights
2. Clean and re-organize Renner’s room
3. Clean and re-organize craft room
4. Install Facebook widget on blog
5. Wait in ridiculous anticipation for the Grey’s Anatomy season finale. OMG.

Once I got out of the fog of having a brand new baby, I was doing really great with cooking dinner almost every single night. I’m talking 6, if not 7, nights a week we had a a home cooked meal. Lately, we’ve been busier and I’ve been relying on frozen ~~junk~~ meals and vegetables are few and far between. I just signed up for an organic produce delivery program since Renner is in Baby Led Weaning mode and having good produce is very important.

Renner’s room is a hot mess since I moved out and then sold the big red armoire and I’m waiting for Justin to build pallet bookshelves. I’d *like* to work on curtains for the closet and a new crib skirt this week, but it’s more important that room is just cleaned and the closet re-organized. The craft room is just going to keep coming up on the to-do list until it gets done… and this has to be the week. I’d love to be able to work on the running list of projects I have in there – but I have to be able to find them.

Okay – who watches Grey’s Anatomy? I’ve been reading TVLine’s spoilers and while we know someone is dying on Grey’s season finale (okay – we prob won’t know who it is ‘til next season’s opener) but we don’t know WHO! From what I’ve read, it really seems like it could be Lexie (ZOMG no), Derek (please no), Kepner (I’ve really started to like her this season), or the Chief. It’s supposedly a season regular and fans will be really, really upset about it. Do you watch? Who do you think it is?

Now this is where you tell me how your Mother’s Day or weekend was, what’s on your to-do list for this week, and your thoughts on Grey’s… aaaaaannnnnddddd GO!

Happy Monday!

I can’t step into a craft store without this happening. At least this time I had a coupon.

2012-05-09T14:59:00.000-05:00

My sister tells me there’s a new Michaels craft store in Branson and that it’s way better than the one in Springfield. The store is brighter, never crowded, and easy to get in and out so I basically had to go. Last Saturday, I needed to buy Renner’s new car seat at Target before the sale ended and the Branson Target is next door neighbors with Michaels, so I seized the opportunity. My sister managed to have the afternoon off (my parents are slave drivers, I tell ya! lol) and Michaels also had a 25% off entire purchase coupon(including sale items!) so it couldn’t have been better.

(Side note: Target in Branson had the car seat I wanted… but it was $10.99 more expensive than they had it online and in Springfield. I could’ve probably had them price match it, but it was so busy at the check out I left two items behind because they acted as though it would take too much effort to have it price checked. So whatever – long story short I ordered the car seat online that night.)

I cannot help myself when it comes to crafting supplies. I had a couple things I wanted to get to complete a few projects but knew good and well we were going to walk up and down every.single.aisle and our cart was likely to be a hot mess at check out. My total at check out before sales and 25% discount? $83.16. Yowza. So what did I get?

1. Two 2 pack 12x12 canvasses. I only *need* one for my mom’s Mother’s Day present, but they were BOGO Free.

2. Two wreath forms. I know what I’m doing with one of them – but you can’t just buy one!

3. Paint. The pink I need for the above mentioned Mom’s Day gift, the blues are for another future project.

4. Martha Stewart chipboard numbers. It was on clearance, so I’m going to make a number board for Renner.

5. Paint brushes. I lost all the brushes I had somehow, and the two 5 packs were on clearance.

6. Metallic brads. These were part of a buy two get one free with #10.

7. Mirror. For my own version of the most popular DIY in blog history.

8. 5 spools of ribbon. The black sparkles I couldn’t live without and the red, white & blue is for a 4th of July project.

9. 4 wooden frames. My sister bought some, so I did too!

10. Gold and silver stickers. B2GO Free with #6.

11. I heart dad sticker. Father’s Day present starter.

12. New glue gun! I have been using a glue gun that has been around since I was a kid.

*Not pictured: bubbles, sand bucket and shovel, football rubber ducky – all Renner’s.

So, my total before discounts was $83.16. Total after? $57.70. I saved $25.46!

Okay, so almost $60 is still a lot and with that total, I was a little disappointed my purchase fit in two bags. I’m sure when Justin sees this, he’ll ask why it is I needed more craft supplies when I have a room that’s already filled.

My ~~excuse~~ reason? I didn’t have any of this stuff though! I only bought things I need and have a plan for. Seriously.

I don’t think he’ll believe me.

Have you made any crafty purchases lately? Any big projects planned?

Photo Dump Tuesday

2012-05-08T14:15:00.000-05:00

I’m just going to go ahead and throw it out there that every post this week is likely to be late. I aim for noon and since Monday was behind and now Tuesday is late, I’m going to call it.

Late. All week.

Now my blog is mirroring my real life for real now.

Zucchini rounds are yummy.

Ren’s been sitting up on his own for almost a month, but the Boppy keeps his head from hitting the ground if he does fall over. Anyway, he’s started to like this clapping singing dog. A lot.

Sunny mornings.

First time to sit in the cart like a big guy.

Telling me something very exciting.

Gone swimmin’.

Happy Tuesday!

Goals for next (this) week. Hopefully there’s a nap involved.

2012-05-07T12:44:00.004-05:00

GFNW is usually a Friday post. If it says anything about how busy I was last week, it’s not going up til today, and last time I checked today is supposed to be Monday. Being a stay at home, sometimes work at home mom, Monday is like my Saturday. Why? Since J is off Saturday and Sunday, I feel like I’m busier outside of the house which means all housework goes to crap for two days. I wasn’t even home most of last week plus I’m prepping for the garage sale, so our house is.a.wreck. I haven’t vacuumed in a week. Laundry, dishes, dusting, bathrooms, Renner’s room… everything is piled. And driving me crazy.

I really tried to work on my goals for the last week so this weekly feature seemed worthwhile. If I don’t get into gear with marking things off, this post will just become my weekly shame bucket and no one wants to read that. Or maybe… maybe you do. I know Vintage Revivals was doing a look at real life feature, and it totally made me feel better about her “perfect” house. It was nice to know that sometimes her perfectly decorated home looks a lot like mine in real life. We all have the same messes/busy lives/need for sleep. Was that just a preface for my to-do list not being finished? I think so.

Last week’s goals:

1. ~~Remove the closet doors in master bedroom and Renner’s room~~
2. Organize the craft room
3. ~~Choose a~~ ~~color and purchase paint for all interior rooms~~
4. Get Renner to take naps in crib
5. ~~Collect, organize~~ and price garage sale items

So not half bad. Actually, half bad/half good, seeing as how I completed half the items. We Justin removed the closet doors and our bedroom seems 10% less cluttered and Renner’s room feels so much more open. I never closed the closet doors in Renner’s room and because of the shape of the room, it seemed to extend the entry, making it feel smaller. You can tell some in this pic (the yellow arrows help):

And now, a slightly different angle but still you can see how nice it is without:

You can see so much more of the room now. Taking off the doors also enabled me to get the two totes of clothes to keep *just in case* in the closet freeing up more of that corner under the scripture canvas. And yes, I have a drop side crib which has been very convenient but now that the kiddo is on the move, I need to install the conversion kit that makes it a NOT drop side crib. The R and A fell down and I’m very glad the white frame stands away from the wall because it caught the letters before they fell in the crib – even though they fell when Renner wasn’t in there. They’re getting painted anyway.

Why remove the doors? Why not just close them when I’m done? There is nothing worse than needing something in the closet or dresser after you’ve put your child to bed in their crib. At least with my child, it doesn’t matter how careful you are – it’s going to make noise, and it’s going to wake him up. Removing the doors and hanging curtains decreases the chances of waking said child by at least half, scientifically speaking of course. I’m planning DIY drop cloth curtains, but for now it’s open just as it has been for 6 months.

I don’t think I considered how much was going on last week when I made this list. If I had remembered the basketball and baseball games we had plans to attend, MOPS on Thursday, car seat shopping, and work at the store two days, there’s no way I would’ve put organize craft room AND pricing all the garage sale items on the same list. I don’t even know what to say about getting Renner to nap in his crib. We’re working on it, but it’s hard to get him to nap in his crib when we aren’t home all week to work on it.

I did choose a paint color. While I loved Elephant Tusk, I decided white was a better option. All the trim and the fireplace mantel need paint desperately, and a fresh coat on the walls is going to amplify just how bad it is. So I decided to choose a color that could go on everything. I mentioned before that I’ll be painting around Renner’s schedule, so this project is going to take forever anyway. Why not make it easier by not having to watch out for trim? Dover White (by Sherwin Williams, I’m using the HGTV Home paint) is the white we used in the rental business just for this reason. All I have to worry about is not getting it on the ceiling or floor.

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The paint will actually be here this weekend and I think it might be my Mother’s Day present. Yay me?

This week I’m only giving myself two goals, because they’re both going to take a considerable amount of time:

1. Price garage sale items, have garage sale

2. Make Mother’s Day gifts

If there’s any free time not taken up by these two, I plan to clean out the kitchen because it will be the first room I start to paint next week. There is a lot of cut-in work around the cabinets but I think ridding my life of that awful yellow is absolutely number 1. I don’t have any Renner goals this week because I simply want him to get back on his regular schedule. Don’t judge my lack of goals this week. Seeing as how I can’t master more than 2.5 goals each week, setting my signs on a measly two should send me into the stratosphere of goal success.

So now that I’ve shared my little goals for the week, tell me what you have planned. Taking on any massive paint projects? Are you making any Mother’s Day gifts or will you buy yours?

Happy Monday!

Busy day ahead.

2012-05-03T12:00:00.000-05:00

Lots to do today! MOPS this morning, errand running after including big boy car seat shopping, and Renner’s first Springfield Cardinals baseball game to watch his godsister’s cheerleading team perform. Oh! And working on those goals that will be updated tomorrow!

I had no idea squash rounds could be this messy. We may do naked meals from now on.

Happy Thursday!

I actually live in my living room: An entire post on couches.

2012-05-02T12:00:00.000-05:00

The saga of choosing a paint color and decorating our house includes an episode on furniture. More specifically, couches. We need a new one something awful. Let’s discuss…

Most of my daily activities involve the living room, and now I sleep there too. I started sleeping on the couch when we brought Renner home. Being the good wife I am*, I decided sleeping in the living room with Renner would be better for everyone because J was going right back to work and insuring him a good nights rest was important. Not only was Renner eating around the clock as most newborns do, he wouldn’t sleep if the lights were off. No one understands this and it started when we were still in the hospital. Lights off = crying and wide awake baby. I wasn’t doing much sleeping anyway, so the lights didn’t bother me much – but there’s no way someone could sleep through that normally.

Fast forward 5 months and I’m still sleeping on the couch. Mostly because Renner and I are co-sleeping half the night and he’s still waking 3-4 times after I bring him to the couch from his crib from 10:30 p to 7:30 a (shut your mouth to me about your baby sleeping through the night). This means I’m not only super sick of the wall color, but I’m tired of everything – and I mean everything – else in this room.

The couch we have now is big enough that Renner, Daisy and I sleep on it every night but it is old and I’m over it. We constantly have a couch cover or spare blanket or sheet draped over it so I feel like we’re one step above a futon in a dorm room. The problem is that Justin and I differ hugely on what is acceptable in the realm of couches. Really, we differ hugely on acceptable design and decor.

For example:

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Justin likes sleek and modern mixed with man cave/sports bar. Glass, metal, black leather. No clutter (he thinks mismatched groupings or collections are clutter), everything needs to match, everything needs to be new. The image above is something he would pick out, minus the lamp and as long as the couches had built-in recliners. Also, he’d need the largest TV possible and St. Louis Cardinals memorabilia every where.

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I like comfortable and collected. Wood and texture. No clutter (I like when things can be hidden from view quickly), pulled together items from different eras, antique and DIY are king.

I will say out styles have relaxed a little bit. When we first moved in together, it was leather or ultra suede couch or nothing for Justin. My farmhouse dining table with mismatched chairs drove him absolutely bonkers. He dropped hints all the time about buying a new table with matching chairs. But I too was all about the country decor – chippy woods every where, not necessarily good antiques everywhere, lots of little things everywhere. Basically, lots and lots of things all over the place. Now, J has relaxed some on accepting my antiques and mismatched furniture. But I think I’ve made it easier on him by streamlining what I display and modernizing my love for time-worn decor. I think our style jointly is now modern country, versus so disjointed there’s no name for it.

However, Justin would still walk into a furniture store and buy an entire bedroom suite, an entire living room suite, and have them find a dining room table and chairs that match the living room set. This idea makes my head spin. I mean, I don’t want a bunch of crap, but living in a show room is a no go. While he’s looking for a leather reclining couch, I’m hunting down a slipcovered sofa. When it comes to a big purchase like a couch, something you’ll have for a very long time, it takes a lot of work for us.

** Side note: Justin has a leather recliner now that we were and are planning to keep. It should also be known that I never sit in the recliner and J never sits on the couch.

When Renner was two weeks old, we went couch shopping for our first big family adventure. We only went to Ashley Furniture because we had a good idea we’d find something we liked there and prices trend more towards the reasonable, versus some other furniture stores. Justin almost immediately found a couch he loved:

This couch is leather-ish. But it’s worn leather so dog nail scratches and baby spit up would (supposedly)blend in or clean up. It was very, very comfortable for sitting. The couch we were looking at was much lighter than this – more dark camel color versus dark brown. It was on sale, so Justin was sold. I begged to look around more. A salesperson listened to what we each preferred and led us on a wild goose chase…

Ashley didn’t have any slipcovered or slipcovered-look couches so I set my sights on other styles. Above is the Crawford sofa. I’d of course switch out the pillows, but J didn’t like the fabric (like corduroy) and it was darker than I was willing to go at the time.

This is the Lily sofa. It was very comfortable to sit on, I loved the nailhead trim on the arms. J didn’t like this one, either. The fabric was again corduroy-ish which he doesn’t care for and he just plain didn’t like this style.

Justin was distracted by this gem – the Gemini. I would never pick this sofa out.

This sofa would’ve been my winner for the day if I was just shopping for myself. It’s the Prelude sofa, and I loved that it wasn’t a humongous piece of furniture and the nailhead trim was perfect. I think with more laid back pillows and a cozy throw it could look more like us. I remember looking to Justin when I sat on it, eyes pleading for him to just try it. He didn’t like it. I know it’s a little fancy for our tastes usually but it’s a darn nice sofa and I was at the point in our day where I just wanted to buy something and call it good.

(There was one sofa I couldn’t find on their website that was perfection – three cushion, rolled arms, nice legs, fabric was nubby and looked like ticking stripe, cream with navy or black stripe. Justin couldn’t even look at it before he was on his was again. It was lovely.)

We made our way back to the original sofa and I was ready to be done with the whole thing (we’d only been to one store but it was my first day out with our 2 week old) so I said the first couch was fine and let’s just do it. The more we hemmed and hawed, we couldn’t settle on the decision and walked out couch less. Can I just say I am so glad we did?

Since Justin already has the dark brown leather recliner (can be seen in this picture of Renner), my goal is to get him away from the leathers and faux leathers. My argument is that the recliner won’t match (which will drive him nuts) so we might as well go with fabric so it doesn’t look like we tried to match two different purchases. Ideally, I’d get the Pottery Barn PB Comfort Slipcovered in Twill Camel:

But I don’t have the stomach for to spend over $1000 on a sofa, slipcovered or not, when I have a dog and a baby. There’s something about Springfield or maybe just the furniture stores we have, that I can’t find a slipcovered option anywhere. If I could justify a trip to Texas or Chicago, I’d go to Ikea and pick up a Ektorp for a delightful $399:

At $399 with other slipcovers you can buy for just $49, I wouldn’t care what happened.

Since none of these slipcovered options are actually options for me, maybe I will just fight for something like the Prelude above. We do plan on going to more than just one store next time we shop. But I just had a thought… if Justin doesn’t like my couch choices, perhaps I could just tell him we’re getting rid of the recliner to buy a matching sofa and chair (read: not a recliner) and I can guarantee they won’t be leather. Or if I don’t get my way, I could just Craigslist the recliner when he’s gone to work…

But I’m totally not that kind of wife. Promise.

Now tell me, is my leap from slipcovered couches to the Prelude completely crazy? Is there a style between the two that I’m missing that could appease me (and the hubby)?

* I’m using sweeping generalizations here when I call myself a good wife. My husband doesn’t read this blog (I don’t think) so I can say whatever I want.

Photo Dump Tuesday

2012-05-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

I’m switching things up today and sharing the pictures from Renner’s first zoo trip a week and a half ago. So, PDT is again Renner-centric – his first trip to Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri. We had a great time with my bff Krystal and her girls Grace and Hannah. This trip was also Hannah’s first, as she’s just 2 months old.

First zoo trip = first time in the front of the stroller.

Grace is such a cutie. She kept saying, “Hi goat! Hi goat! Hi goat!”

My child, however, was not impressed…

I just think he was too busy being cute.

The giraffes were awesome. You buy crackers and they come right up to eat. When we first walked up, the baby giraffe was there but he left soon after. Grace had a blast feeding this giraffe and the last pic might be my fave from the whole day.

I also enjoyed these monkeys. At first, the two were sitting in the tree. We walked through a lizard/spider/snake (yuck!) cave and when we came back out, one monkey had come to the window sill.

Renner ended up laying back in the stroller, kicking his legs up on the tray and enjoying the ride.

Ignoring my blurry kid face, he got a new giraffe (most of his toys are giraffes) to mark his first trip to the zoo. I may or may not be trying to force this giraffe to be Renner’s lovey. So far, he’s not going for it.

I think we’re going to become ‘Friends of the Zoo’ so we can keep going. I think Renner will just enjoy the zoo the older he gets so it’s a worth while investment. Also, it gets us out in the sunshine and there is nothing wrong with that.

Happy Tuesday!

Goals for Next Week & Changing Renner’s Room

2012-04-27T12:00:00.000-05:00

Hehe. I love this.

Ideally, I’d tell you today that I completed all my goals from last week. Yay me! Goals are awesome! This is why I always make to-do lists!

*crickets*

Oh. You mean the purpose of goals and to-do lists is to complete them? Well, better luck this week I guess!

Review last week’s goals and what was completed:

1. Remove the closet doors in master bedroom and Renner’s room (need hubby for this)
2. ~~Clean out~~ and organize the ~~crap~~ craft room
3. Choose a paint color and purchase paint for kitchen and living room
4. ~~Make a decision on Renner’s room changes~~ 5. ~~Keep the laundry caught up… all week~~

What happened? We didn’t remember to remove the closet doors until Renner had already gone to bed one night. And we forgot all the other nights. I did clean out the craft room, leaving piles ready to organize and piles of garage sale items. I posted yesterday about selecting a paint color, still not having made a decision. It’s harder to choose this time because I’m choosing one color for the whole house. I did make some decisions in regards to Renner’s room (we’ll talk about that in a minute) and something crazy happened with our laundry this week. I swear every single item of clothing Renner and Justin have was dirty, along with every towel, washcloth, sheet and blanket we own. However – J never had to ask if x-item of clothing was clean or if there were clean boxers somewhere. I call that a success!

This week’s goals feature a repeat of last week’s that weren’t completed and a few newbies:

1. Remove the closet doors in master bedroom and Renner’s room
2. Organize the craft room
3. Choose a color and purchase paint for all interior rooms
4. Get Renner to take naps in crib
5. Collect, organize and price garage sale items

In true cheater fashion, I’ve already started on 4 of the 5 items. Admitting that means I need to have everything marked off my list next week!

In other news, I *think* I’ve finally come to a decision on the changes I want to make to Renner’s room. Let’s go crazy with the back links: reveal, how it started, little details, ready for changes. I had considered changing the paint color, changing the bedding, the curtains, re-painting furniture. Seeing as how I have an entire house to paint and Renner’s room just got a fresh coat, changing the paint color is out. I do want to add stripes to two of the four walls, like this:

Who doesn’t love Vintage Revivals? I love the current series she’s doing on real life stuff.

I’m also going to paint the monogram above Ren’s crib white because it’s just too kid-town for me as is:

And with the stripes, I’ll be moving some art around. I think the armoire needs to be painted white (J will love this!) or I may just get rid of it altogether (garage sale?). While I do use it for storage, the diapers, wipes, bath and misc. can find a new home. And it would free up so much room… plenty of room for the pallet shelves J is supposed to build:

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I’m going to hang new curtains to brighten the space, the closet doors are coming off and being replaced with more curtains, and I’m on the hunt for new fabric for a new longer crib skirt and I’d like to add a rug. Generally, the idea is staying the same, just being refined.

I’ve already started pinning (do you follow me? You should!) things for his big boy room, and I realize I may be getting ahead of myself. But there’s nothing wrong with pre-planning, right?

Okay, now you tell me… what are your goals for next week? What do you think now that I’ve made a decision on the Ren-dog’s room?

Happy Friday and have an awesome weekend!

(As always, if you would like to pin the images that come from other sites, please use the links I've provided to go to the originating site. Thanks!)