Five Camels

Om...

2012-02-15T07:26:00.000-05:00

This morning I did prenatal yoga in my living room while eating chocolate.
I just felt that needed to be documented.

Nom Nom Nom

2012-02-12T20:23:00.001-05:00

I finished the crib rail guard!

I used this tutorial from Baby Rabies, but I left each ribbon long enough to knot on the horizontal rail and then wrap completely around the vertical rail for stability. While I was at it, I made sure each to include enough length to tie a double-knotted bow in the front. Because it’s pretty. And Katherine’s a girl. She needs more bows in her life, right?

I took 2 whole minutes to oil my sewing machine (for the first time ever *hangs head in shame*) before tackling this project and ohmygoodnessgracious. Why did it take me so long to oil my machine?? Sewing with a properly oiled machine was like sewing through butter.

As I’ve been working on these sewing projects, I’ve been feeling kind of sentimental about where my materials have originated.

The material I used to lengthen the crib skirt came from my friend Karla. We actually bought that material in college and we planned on making a throw pillow out of it. And then we got distracted. Probably by beer. Karla cleaned out her craft closet the other day and we laughed when she returned it to me still in it’s original bag from Walmart.

The canvas I used for the diaper box project came from a fun fabric store trip I took with my mom a couple of years ago. I had no idea what I’d use that canvas for… but it was dirt cheap and I couldn’t say no.

And the ribbon for the crib rail was given to me by my mother-in-law. She found a crazy sale on gold and teal ribbon. “They’re kind of weird colors, but I thought you might want it.” she shrugged, handing me two gigantic spools. Ironically, and unrelatedly, they’re two of the main colors I ended up choosing for the nursery.

It’s like it’s meant to be or something…

More projects to come. Rob laughed that opening the door to the nursery is now like: “BAM! RAINBOW!” It’s true. I’m way too happy right now to decorate in muted tones. ;)

Grapefruit and Cheeseburgers

2012-02-10T18:17:00.000-05:00

Source: laurenconrad.com via Shereen on Pinterest

Katherine: grapefuit?
Sarah: I'm a little busy driving home. And also, I'm not really hungry right now.
(10 minutes later)
Katherine: Grapefruit!! STARVING!!!
Sarah: Seriously? You are a drama queen. And I'm still driving.
Katherine: Fine... (pouts) ...meat? FEED ME MEAT!
Sarah: It's Friday and we're Catholic. You get spaghetti. And maybe grapefruit for dessert. Also, be quiet! I can't get us to food any faster if you whine about it.
Katherine: There's a granola bar in your purse...
Sarah: That's the only emergency granola bar I have left because you made me eat the other one yesterday. Seriously. Calm down. We'll be home in like 10 minutes.

I've never made so many unplanned stops at the McDonald's drive through. I have an impatient, cheeseburger-loving fascist dictator growing inside of my uterus. I don't even really like red meat!

Source: Uploaded by user via Katie on Pinterest

Crazy meat-obsession aside, I could eat citrus fruit all day long. I consumed an entire 5 pound box of clementines in 5 days. And then I wanted more. I drove Katherine to the grocery store last week and bought FIVE gigantic grapefruit to appease her ridiculous demands. The checkout lady at the grocery store eyed my bulging bag of grapefruit and my expanding middle.

Checkout Lady: "Eating for two?"
Sarah: "Yup. And apparently she's a fan of grapefruit?"

Rob has said over and over again that he loves me being pregnant because I LOVE FOOD right now. I got that sack of grapefruit home and practically made out with it on the couch. I have to actually attentively monitor how many yummy noises I make when I'm eating lunch at work. I could write soliloquies on "The Beauty of Baked Beans". Food has never tasted this good. Can I just be pregnant forever? ;)

I am a sewing MACHINE!

2012-02-08T17:40:00.001-05:00

I think you could qualify me as "nesting".

Last year, I worked on this play with the kids at church. There was a LOT of sewing and historically I haven't ever been particularly fond of sewing. I didn't touch my sewing machine for a good 9 months after that.

But now? With every spare moment I have, I'm either going to the fabric store or sitting at my sewing machine. And dudes, I am NOT a great seamstress. But I can't get enough!

Katherine, your room is going to ROCK. You'd better sleep in there one day. ;)

Caroline gave me some of her empty diaper boxes. Not just any diaper boxes. JEANS diaper boxes. I'm sad to report that baby Joseph is currently going through a stash of awful "Jeans" diapers.

They were on clearance. Which is the only reason this Auntie is allowing the application of "Jeans" diapers to her gorgeous nephew's hiney. In order to counteract the hideousness that those boxes of diapers inflicted on the world... they needed some love.

Like I said... I'm not the best seamstress, so my liners aren't all the same length. I made the short one first and then realized that I'd rather the next two be longer, but meh! Regardless of the lack of Quality Assurance, it was still a fun project and they'll be very useful for storage. :) I used this tutorial for canvas-wrapped diaper boxes.

I thrifted this twin bedskirt at Goodwill Outlet a year ago... I didn't have a twin bed, but at $1.29/pound, I was determined to use that gorgeous fabric for SOMETHING...

I added some length to the top, some white pom-pom trim to the bottom... and turned it into a crib skirt!

Next on my list of sewing adventures... I'm going to make a pretty teething rail guard using this tutorial from Baby Rabies. Not that Katherine will have teeth any time soon... but since crib bumpers = SIDS, I want a safe way to pretty up the crib! For visualization purposes, I've draped and tied some fabric scraps to the rails. I think it will be a fun little project!

Nursery Progress

2012-01-25T16:40:00.000-05:00

Caroline made me this shirt, and gave it to me for Christmas with one pink and one blue marker. It reads "Loading, Please Wait..." :)
I'm supposed to color in the bar as D-day approaches. (Katherine is due to join us on D-Day... which we find kind of funny. Maybe she should come home in an Invasion Stripe onsie?)

I've been working on the nursery, which is a VERY FUN endeavor.

I found 4 yards of the most perfect, most cheerful fabric on sale at Jo-Ann's. Of course, it was the last 4 yards of the fabric in all of Richmond, and the pattern has been discontinued, so thank goodness I needed just that!

I bought this glider/rocker & ottoman at Goodwill for $25. It was a heck of a deal!

I washed the cushions, added some foam for extra cush, sewed some slipcovers, and here we are!

The slipcovers need a little adjusting, which I'll do soon, but I wanted to share this cheerful fabric with you while I had sunlight & time to take pictures this afternoon. :)

Source: thehandmadehome.net via Sarah on Pinterest

I had these (free from The Handmade Home!) vintage-esque alphabet prints printed at Office Depot, and framed them in 26 Dollar Tree frames. I haven't yet leveled and taped them all straight because there is some greige paint in that wall's future.

"What are you doing with 26 frames?" the Dollar Tree lady asked me.
"I'm framing the Alphabet!" I said.
"Oh! For your classroom?" she asked.
"No... for my nursery!" I replied, sort of giggling to myself that I'M DECORATING A NURSERY (!?!) !

**On a side-note, I sometimes wonder if I was supposed to be a teacher. Not that I really want to be a teacher, that is a TOUGH job! But I've twice had little kids come up to me in Target asking me if I was a teacher? Random.**

So that's where we are for now. There's lots left to do... painting, yellow pom-pom trim acquisition, transportation of the cutest dresser ever, and so much more.

On the growing baby front, Katherine is now as long as a CARROT and she likes to kick and squirm while I'm sitting at the computer... especially when I get annoyed with the awkward Electronic Medical Records transition process at work. I appreciate those kicks most of all, because yes, it may take me 4 times as long to write a patient note, but Katherine's kicks remind me that life isn't all bad. ;)

4 and a half months to go! :)

Baby Booty Bonanza: The Results

2012-01-22T16:25:00.003-05:00

So it turns out that I have a FABULOUS collection of friends through this blog. I love you guys. I have poured over your emails for weeks. You've written me NOVEL-LONG emails... and then merrily replied to my novel-long replies! Emily sent me a SPREADSHEET of her experiences with baby swag! I feel so darn supported in this baby adventure. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!!!

Based on a combination of what things appeared most often in your emails, what the Baby Bargains book had to say, and long Baby Booty conversations with Rob... here is what we eventually picked to request on our registries/acquire on our own:

Stroller: Baby Jogger City Mini and a car seat adapter. It seems very versatile and well designed. Here's hoping it can do it all!

Source: toysrus.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Baby Carrier: ERGObaby baby carrier. I think this was the single-most often recommended baby item in my survey of you folks.

Source: toysrus.com via Sarah on Pinterest

...and for a prettier way to carry Miss Katherine around/nurse her... Katherine's Godmother and my good friend, Christine gave me THE MOST BEAUTIFUL baby sling of all time. I sometimes go into the nursery just to pet it. I'm not even kidding.

Source: zolowear.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Car Seat: Graco Snugride 30. Found on clearance at Target for $90. (happy dance)

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Diapers: Bum Genius 4.0, FuzziBunz One Size, and KaWaii Cloth diapers
Yup, we're totally stoked to be jumping on the crazy cloth diapering wagon. :) It's become a small obsession of mine. We'll be sure to report back on the results!

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

...and since baby Katherine will be GOING TO THE BEACH within the first month of her life, and there will be a pool at the house... some reusable swim diapers are on the list. EEE!! Baby swimming lessons! :)

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Crib/Nursery:
Graco Sarah Classic Convertible Crib - I'd been drooling over this perfect crib, and my MIL found it on a crazy sale that included a super fancy baby mattress a couple of months ago. It's set up in the nursery, has already been tested and approved by a baby houseguest at New Year's, and is the most adorable thing I have ever owned.

Source: walmart.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Ultimate Crib Sheet. This seems like a fabulous idea to keep from having to change crib sheets all the time. Though, Rob did suggest newspaper... ;)

Source: toysrus.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I found a glider-rocker + ottoman at Goodwill for $25 that I'm recovering in the most cheerful fabric you've ever seen. I'm kind of madly in love with it. Also, rocking in that glider immediately makes me sleepy, so here's hoping it will have the same effect on Katherine. ;)

Feeding:
Medela Freestyle Pump/bottles. When my mom asked what she could get us, I sheepishly asked for a breast pump because no one other than your mom really wants to get you a breast pump. I requested the Pump-In-Style, but my Mom sent us the Freestyle "because then you can DO stuff while pumping at work!" I was blown away by her generosity, and may have gotten a little teary over... a breast pump. Yup. I've got some hormones goin' on over here. ;)

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

A couple of Avent bottles in case Katherine is a picky bottle girl.

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I registered for this Boon Grass Countertop bottle dryer, because, I mean... how could you NOT want this to dry bottles?? It's right up there with Rainbow Baby-Leg-Warmers.

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Quite possibly the stupidest name for a pillow ever... "My Brest Friend" was recommended over & over again, so on the registry it went!

Source: toysrus.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chair

Source: toysrus.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Chico Caddy Hook-On Chair. Good for traveling, which we do a lot of. Caroline had one of these and it was fabulous.

Source: toysrus.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Baby Gear:
Graco SweetPeace Soother Swing. It plugs in! It swings! It vibrates! It detatches and rocks! Fussy Katherine doesn't stand a chance.

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Graco Pack-n-Play. Lots of people recommended the one with the bassinet/changing station, but we opted for the basic version because we're also registering for the Fisher Price Rock N Play sleeper.

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Fisher Price Rock N Play sleeper. The plan is that this will be used when Katherine stays in our room for night feedings at first. It will also be used on trips while she's little instead of the giant pack n play.

Source: toysrus.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Aden & Anias Swaddling Blankets and SwaddleMe swaddlers. Don't worry, baby Katherine, we'll keep those crazy arms and legs in check. ;)

Source: target.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I think that's most of the big stuff we've picked out. There's random other little stuff like... rectal thermometers (te-hee!) and whatnot, but a rectal thermometer is a rectal thermometer. You probably don't need a picture of the one I picked. ;)

We have some very generous friends, who have given us baby swag they don't need any more, including: a Diaper Champ, Baby Monitors, and a Changing Table-top.

I can't say it enough... I can't believe how excited people are about your arrival, Miss Katherine. And man, do they want to buy you lots of stuff or what?! People really love babies. Me too. I'm off to work on the nursery. :)

"Ladies"

2012-01-12T23:15:00.001-05:00

Rob has started referring to me & Katherine as, "Ladies"

As in:
"It's time for bed, Ladies."
"Ladies, are you hungry?"

It seems that after the ultrasound, Rob has suddenly started agreeing with what I've been telling him for the past 4 months: I am two people right now. ;)

I waffled for about 30 seconds early on in the pregnancy about finding out the gender of our baby prior to delivery. But I'm SO GLAD we did. Being able to assign a name, a REAL name to the baby growing in my belly has made a process that seemed very abstract completely real.

I've been happier in these past 4 months than I've ever been in my whole entire life. I'm not exaggerating. I've never been this happy. Ever. But I also felt out of focus. Full of joy but unable to pin it on anything concrete. I've tried to explain how that feels to some of my friends and I always just end up doing some version of "Jazz Hands." That's how I felt: Jazz Hands. My brother-in-law drew this caricature of me. I think it's pretty accurate. ;)

And now? After that ultrasound told us we're having a baby girl?? I feel a million times more present in this moment than I've felt in the past 4 months.

Seeing ultrasound pictures of this baby and assigning her a name... using her name in daily conversation, makes this REAL. Rob's done more talking to my belly in the past few hours than he has all the way up to this point. There's a big difference between addressing the generic baby in my belly... calling "it" "Baby", and now calling "her" "Katherine".

I actually sent these alphabet cards off to be printed and I'll pick them up tomorrow! There's a baby girl coming to live at our house and she needs some decorations! :)

Source: thehandmadehome.net via Sarah on Pinterest

Meet Katherine Isabella!

2012-01-11T11:06:00.002-05:00

IT'S A GIRL!!!! :) :) :)

A very uncooperative girl who was perfectly willing to show off her lady parts, but some of the actually medically important bits? Not so much. No, she wanted to hang out in a little corner of my uterus and nap with one hand up against the side of her face. Very Damsel in Distress of her. She's pretty darn cute, though. She smacked her lips for us once, and waved her little arms & legs around. ;) Dr. Dausch was happy with the parts we did get to see. She's not worried about the bits we missed, and Katherine's punk attitude means we get more pictures next month! I'm totally ok with that!

Katherine is measuring exactly as expected. 8oz. and 7.5 inches! She's going to be tall! Our due date is still D-Day (June 6th), and I'm rocking at being pregnant. My belly is officially bigger than my boobs, which I feel is a crucial piece of information for you to have. ;) I turned sideways in the mirror last week and laughed out loud. HELLO! I am PREG-NANT!

Life is good! I've got a permanent grin plastered on my face, and Rob is researching tu-tus and tea parties. ;) EEEEEE!!! BABY GIRL!!!! :)

A Quiet Dinner Party?

2012-01-05T20:34:00.002-05:00

I'd always wanted to throw a New Year's Eve party, but we'd never quite gotten around to it. With an impending baby, and thus the end of all fun ever (hah!) I decided that THIS WAS THE YEAR!!

At first we thought we'd have a nice, quiet dinner party and lots of champagne. I suggested cocktail dresses?

But then we thought... we have lots of church friends that drive over an hour every week to get to our parish... and New Year's Day always coincides with one of those required mass days in the Catholic church. Since we live 5 minutes from the church... maybe it'd be nice to invite everyone for a crazy Catholic sleepover? And I mean everyone. We invited 14 adults and 8 children under the age of 6. And some fetii. Since we're Catholic let's count them too. ;)

Dudes. It was a crazy party.

I had a terrible cold, so absolutely no preparation was done until the night before the party. At least half of our furniture had to be rearranged to accommodate all these party-ers. In between snot rags, three hours before the party, I tried to nudge a sad college bookshelf the tiniest smidge and it literally snapped into a million pieces. Books spewed everywhere. I had a small (?) snotty breakdown. Fortunately, Caroline saved the day, helped me decorate, and gave me a hug. If I hadn't been growing her a ticket to Aunt-hood, I'm pretty sure she'd have handed me a bottle of champagne. But even better than booze, she strung some balloons up in the window and VOILA! Day Saved!! I love you, Caroline! Thank you.

Oh, and she made me go primp while she took these pretty pictures. I emerged feeling much more sparkly. ;)

(For the record, Rob's grandmother gave me both the sequined silver belt and the sequined silver Santa hat. Is she trying to tell me something?)

Rob and Theresa spent ALL DAY cooking the most fabulous feast. Eagerly consumed by the masses. Caroline suggested having the kids sit on the floor around a long coffee table. Best. Idea. Ever.

Fruit Ninja was played, babies were cuddled, forts were built, plenty of alcohol was consumed, and not a single child fell asleep before we toasted the New Year. :)

So there ya go, it's the theme of the year!
2012 began with 8 wild babies in the house, and I think that's a good start. :)

Annoyingly Joyful

2012-01-03T21:56:00.004-05:00

Source: gallery.apartmenttherapy.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Dude. We need this. It's a Camel. That babies can ride.

I had a patient last week... normally a very quick-witted, intellectual woman... ask me the same very basic question about antibiotic selection 3 times while looking at me strangely. I started wondering if I were speaking English? We both had a good laugh when she finally blurted, "I'm sorry. I'm not paying attention to a word you're saying. Are you pregnant??"

Yep. It's getting to the point that if my giant white coat fans open too much, people start staring at my expanding middle. You know when you were in ~~5th grade~~ 7th grade and you started getting boobs... how you were very aware that everyone was looking first at your bosoms and then at your face? Yeah, that's happening to my belly these days.

However, this go-around it's kind of fun. I'm kind of madly in love with my expanding waistline. I'm really sorry, but I am that annoying woman that LOVES BEING PREGNANT. I try really hard to avoid bringing up baby/pregnancy/eeee! conversation topics in my real life conversations. Seriously... I make lists in my head of conversation topics that don't involve gestation, but no one seems to want to discuss anything else.

I've never been so happy in my whole entire life. God, I'm annoying. I feel like I'm halfway obliged to get post-partum depression as my comeuppance for all this ridiculous joy. ;)

Anyways, it's been ages since I posted anything on decor. Want to see the pretty nursery ideas floating around this crazy brain of mine? Right now, it's all very gender-neutral in my head. Maybe because for the next 8 DAYS our baby is very gender neutral. But I really like the neutered nursery. I want it to be a Kid's room... not a Baby's room. After all, how long are they really babies? Who knows, though. Next week it may be ALL FUCHSIA! ALL RUFFLES! ALL THE TIME! (someone save me!)

Meg Durksen from Whatever

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: thehandmadehome.net via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: newlywoodwards.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: puregreendesign.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: 6thstreetdesignschool.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Samuel L. Jackson Day

2011-12-19T22:08:00.001-05:00

(last week... this is what we talk about before falling asleep)

Rob: Martin Luther King Day is coming up.

Sarah: I'm so bitter that people get that day off and I don't. ...and then there's that ridiculous holiday that Virginia created... Something... L. Jackson Day?

Rob: And Sarah, who was L. Jackson?

Sarah: Some Civil War dude? or something? ...Samuel L. Jackson?

Rob: BAHAHAHAHA!

Sarah: That's not right...

Rob: WE SHOULD TOTALLY CELEBRATE SAMUEL L. JACKSON DAY! We could watch Snakes on A Plane marathons!

Sarah: Let's do it!

History is not my strong suit. Mostly because I don't care. This makes my history teacher sister-in-law cringe. Sorry, Caroline. Maybe I would care more if I got all these holidays off? ;)

Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit

2011-12-14T13:05:00.000-05:00

Dear Baby,

I feel like I should keep a running list of the nicknames that have been assigned to you. Your dad and I mostly just call you, "Baby," but I think I started a trend when I announced your existence to my family, because since then, we've all become obsessed with produce.

You see, actually saying the words, "I'm pregnant" didn't come easily for your mother. After all that infertility crap, saying those two words just seemed way too... clinical? hopeful? naive? real? All of that at once, somehow.

So when I called your grandparents at 5 weeks, I told them, "Well, Dad/Mom/Granny/etc, it looks like you have a grandchild the size of a sesame seed!"

Source: babycenter.com via Sarah on Pinterest

"I DOOO???" they all said. And I was so blown away by how happy you made everyone. I mean, I knew other people really wanted you to exist too, but, Baby, you have no idea how loved you already are. I know, right now you're a little busy growing and working on peeing out amniotic fluid and then drinking and breathing said pee. (Baby, just so you know, that's a little gross... but carry on. Do what you've gotta do.)

Anyways, there's this list that tells me how big you are each week compared to various fruit/vegetables. And everyone finds this endlessly entertaining.

The nicknames started when you were a Lentil Bean. Which reminded your parents of this "Dinosaur Office" episode:

We spent the week saying "Lentil Loooaf!" and giggling to ourselves.

Source: babycenter.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Then you were the size of a blueberry, which your dad thought MUST mean that you were his baby (obviously) because your dad often wears navy blue shirts with jeans and declares himself "A Blueberry!" for the day. Baby, your dad has a weird sense of humor.

Source: babycenter.com via Sarah on Pinterest

At 10 weeks you were the size of a kumquat. I actually went to the grocery store to check out what a kumquat was that week. I might be mildly obsessed with you, Baby.

Source: babycenter.com via Sarah on Pinterest

The week before Thanksgiving you were the size of a Fig. So your grandfather spent the next two weeks calling you "Newt" for Fig Newtons.

Source: babycenter.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Last week someone at work asked me in passing, "How's the Lemon?" and I was surprised that she knew exactly how big you were that week.

Source: babycenter.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Your grandfather left us a message on the phone last week asking about "The Prenatal Pickle" which made me laugh.

This week you're the size of an apple. Apples are big, Baby! I guess that's why my pants don't fit. ;)

Source: babycenter.com via Sarah on Pinterest

We went for our 15 week checkup today and heard your very healthy heartbeat. Probably the GREATEST SOUND EVER. Dr. Dausch joked that she thinks you're either a girl or a very excited boy. We'll find out in 4 weeks!!! :):):) On a happy, prenatal high we went straight from there to Babies R Us and test drove some strollers. So fun. :)

We love you, Baby. Grow! Grow! Grow!!
oxoxo,
Mom & Dad

Purposeful Acrobatics

2011-12-12T21:59:00.000-05:00

First of all: YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!! Thank you for all the helpful baby stuff advice!! I'm compiling a Google Docs spreadsheet with all of your suggestions and I feel that through color coded organization, I can totally tackle this project! ;) Keep the suggestions coming!! I love you guys!

Rob has wanted to move our desks down to man-town for a couple of years now. It would be a more functional den space if our computers were downstairs, but having the office upstairs gives a defined role to one of the two extra upstairs bedrooms that we hope to one day fill with children. Through all the infertility hell, I tried numerous times to define the room that was supposed to be the nursery as a "craft room" "ironing room" and "other guest room", but in my head, of course, it was always the "room that was supposed to be the nursery". Annoying.

Three weeks ago, Rob suggested that maybe we should move the desks downstairs now that we have a baby on the way. That way we could still have a guest room upstairs after we turn the "craft/guest/ironing room" into the nursery. I protested. Because what if this pregnancy doesn't work out and then we'll have TWO rooms that were supposed to be defined by the presence of a baby. Two undefined rooms would be way worse than one undefined room.

But then the second trimester arrived and I guess hope did too? Because I started decorating the nursery in my head and the giant map over Rob's desk might need to go on the wall behind the crib.

Sarah: "So, I think your giant map might need to go on the wall behind the crib. It meets the criteria of: "probably wouldn't squish the baby in a freak earthquake."
Rob: "Cool! I like that idea! If it's a boy, right?"
Sarah: "What? Girls can't have maps??"
Rob: "Girls are terrible at reading maps."
Sarah: "Just because I'M terrible at reading maps doesn't mean ALL girls are terrible at reading maps!"
Rob: "Uh-huh..."
Sarah: "And maybe I'd be better at reading maps if I'd had a giant map above my crib!"
Rob: "Right. Because infants do lots of map reading."
Sarah: "Maybe!"

(5 minutes later)

Sarah: "Ok, so if we're moving the map into the nursery, I guess we can maybe move the desks downstairs when we do the nursery."
Rob: "The map was crucial to that decision?"
Sarah: "Yes? I don't know. I have a lot of hormones right now. But the baby being the size of an apple makes me kind of think it's here to stay."
Rob: "I will never understand women."
Sarah: "Dude. I don't even understand the logic involved in this decision. But, Yay! Nursery!"

Baby Booty Bonanza

2011-12-11T17:41:00.002-05:00

Mommies & Daddies: please help me!

Tell me what we need for the purpose of raising an infant. More specifically: the stuff we need that can be found at Target or Babies R Us. I can probably procure coffee at the grocery store and sanity... um... well, I'll work on figuring out where to procure sanity. Also, please tell me what we DON'T need.

I've borrowed a whole slew of good books on preparing for babies, but I'm also really interested to hear what you guys have to say.

Tell me what to register for. And what NOT to register for. And for extra credit points... what to buy at the thrifts! Write me a blog post, or send me an email (fivecamels(at)gmail(dot)com), or just comment! I tried to figure out how to host a link party in blogger and failed miserably. SO, if you write me a blog post, let me know in the comments and I'll do a second post next week with a list of you fabulous peeps. I figure this might be a good reference for all the other knocked-up ladies in the blogosphere, too!

Help me keep this Baby Booty Bonanza from turning into a Child Crap Catastrophe. ;)

And, for inspiration purposes, I give you my "Really, Sarah, you need to lay off the cheeseburgers" 14-week belly:

(clearly we have no time to waste in procuring all this baby stuff! ::snort::)

The State of My Pants Address

2011-12-06T19:02:00.000-05:00

I am back with an update on the state of my pants. Because I feel like I need to emphasize the ridiculous hilarity that is my expanding middle. And maybe you were wondering about the state of my pants? I don't know... it could have been a pretty dull day for you?

I had a moment of panic today at work in which I was fairly certain I ripped my pants by sitting down. I heard a very distinct ripping noise in the belly area and after a short moment of panic I realized that:
a) pants don't normally rip in the fly area
b) even if they did, I was safely tucked into my bella-banded-waist
c) Oh right, that ripping sound would be my poor half-zippered fly unzipping itself. My fly has surrendered. The belly has won.

So, peeps! I am here to report that not only do my pants NOT BUTTON ANYMORE, apparently zipping my fly is not in the cards for a good many months. Thank you, Bella Bands. I love you. Run away with me. To the grocery store. Where we will procure the ingredients for peppermint bark. Thus ensuring your usefulness in my wardrobe.

Source: atasteofkoko.com via Cat on Pinterest

Speaking of a good many months... today I asked a patient to follow up in 6 months. She said, "Ok! So... June?" And I said... "Hmm... June...well..." I had a funny, happy moment in my head of "OhMyGod... I'm going to have a baby in SIX MONTHS!! SIX MONTHS!!!!"

So I'm going to have to maybe procure stuff for this child? Since it's maybe only going to keep growing? And maybe in six months it will get this crazy idea that it wants to be an outside baby? And outside babies require some stuff, right? So. If I figured out how to host a link party, would you write me a blog post about your favorite baby acoutrements? And the useless ones? Maybe I could even come up with a snazzy title. What do you think?

For now, I need to come up with the ingredients for peppermint bark. Because 8pm is approaching. And 8pm is when this little lemon decides that "I'm pretty sure you didn't feed me all day long and I NEED FOOD RIGHT NOW!!!" Probably I should feed it something more healthy than peppermint bark. Meh. ;)

Twinkle Toes

2011-12-01T22:18:00.000-05:00

The babycenter.com emails told us last week that our baby has now developed reflexes in response to it's environment... so supposedly if I poked on my belly, the baby will move in response. Of course, I still can't feel it move because it's still a tiny little person. However, this thought entertains me to no end, and therefore, I've been (subtly?) dancing in my seat at stoplights on my daily commute. Because I think making the baby dance is funny.

Don't worry. The baby gets back at me by making sure I'm STARVING! HALF! TO! DEATH! every 2 hours. Helooooo second trimester! I see you on the horizon! And I think I love you. Starvation is about a million times better than nausea. :)

In other news... my toes have Christmas spirit!

Sarah: "Hey Rob! Look! I painted my toenails red and then sprinkled them with glitter!! They're so shiny!!"
Rob: "Nice. Are you 14?"
Sarah: "Whatever. Boys just don't understand."

The Charlie Browniest

2011-11-27T09:41:00.002-05:00

If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll have already noted my slight obsession with acquiring a pink Christmas tree this year. It's been going on for months and I'm powerless to stop it. I think it's my 1960's house's fault. Sometimes my 1960's house demands some tacky 1960's stuff. There's no reasoning with her. (I don't know... boats are female, houses probably are too... especially since she wants a pink tree...)

It started with this picture... which, actually doesn't involve a pink tree... it's a silver one... but I guess there was enough pink to lodge "PINK! CHRISTMAS!" in my head. Also, I need that dress.

Source: google.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Then I found this... which seemed like something I could actually make... but it wasn't quite the Charley Brown Pink Aluminum tree I wanted...

Source: Uploaded by user via Sarah on Pinterest

Then! Last night! I found THE ONE! THE PINKEST! THE PINK TREE OF MY DREAMS!!

Source: decoruniverse.com via Sarah on Pinterest

But I went to see it at Hobby Lobby and it nearly burned my retinas out with it's hot hot shade of pink. So... I moped a little and went to Michaels to buy some glitter (more on that later). And! I found it! The cutest little Charlie Browniest Pink Christmas tree in the sale aisle! It was missing one of it's little feet so they even gave me an extra 10% off. And I had a 30% off the sale price coupon! 8 dollars later, I was the happiest Pink Christmas tree owner in Richmond. It was meant to be.

I secured it with some floral foam in a milk glass vase, fluffed some cotton around the base, and voila! My Pink Christmas Tree dreams are complete! :)

I am mildly concerned that this tiny little tree may be a gateway drug and I may eventually need a 6 foot tall pink monstrosity for the living room. Perhaps you all should start your research now for Pink Christmas Tree Addicts Anonymous support groups. Rob may need a safe place to hide.

Pinecone Garland

2011-11-26T17:44:00.000-05:00

Advent starts tomorrow... which MEANS that Rob can't protest when I drag out the Christmas tree!! YES!! :):)

Some Christmas decorating has kind of already begun in the Five Camels household. I labeled it as "fall decorating" to soothe the natives, but let's face it, pinecone garland is a Christmas decoration. ;)

I acquired the pinecones right after Hurricane Irene came through in August. Our yard was COVERED in them from our extremely tall pine trees. Since we had no power for days, I had plenty of time to think... hmm... maybe I should collect these and use them for Christmas decoration later...

I used thin beading wire and looped it once around each pinecone while watching TV. Easiest project ever.

Salt Dough Gift Tags

2011-11-24T18:37:00.000-05:00

I pinned these gift tags ages ago, and have been thinking about them ever since.

Source: gardenmama.typepad.com via Sarah on Pinterest

The women in my family have impeccable taste in gift wrap. Given only brown paper packaging and string, my mom could create something worthy of sitting under a tree at Buckingham Palace. :)

I spent a very therapeutic hour at the dining room table creating these tags with salt dough and an artificial green sprig. I used these instructions for the imprint, and this recipe for salt dough. I baked them overnight and used a sharpie on the back to address the tags.

The only thing I'd do differently next time, is I'd actually acquire a silicone baking sheet instead of substituting the parchment paper I already had. I think the silicone baking sheet would have made the backs more even and it would have been easier to address the labels. But I'm really happy with how the project turned out. Apparently they looked tasty, because my 5 year old brother thought they were real cookies today! Fortunately, I caught him in time so no teeth were harmed in this project. ;)

Must Stop the Keg Stands

2011-11-23T20:34:00.001-05:00

Last week? When I went to the OB? My pants totally still fit. They even said I'd LOST a pound since my last visit. I was pretty sure this baby was hiding out somewhere other than in my belly because um... my pants still totally fit.

And then three days ago... at almost exactly 12 weeks... suddenly I have a belly. A tiny one. But a belly that interfered with the comfortable buttoning of pants.

Baby? Did you smuggle a laptop in there? Did you get that email telling us that you're the size of a lime now, too? Because you were supposed to kind of gradually work up to Lime-Size, not:

one day: Poppyseed
next day: LIME.

I decided that clearly I was crazy and babies don't just suddenly grow like that and damn it if I hold my breath my pants! still! button! Rob assured me that I look exactly the same, and again threatened to put gravy on everything. So I wandered around work mildly uncomfortable on Monday and Tuesday. And on Tuesday? I was told twice that I am developing a bit of a belly. By well-meaning, excited people that know I'm pregnant!

And you know... with a mildly uncomfortably squashed belly, I was a little disturbed by the notion that Other People Think I'm Getting Fat. Which, of course, is NOT what the other people meant by their enthusiastic observation. They meant, "Yay! Babies! Yay!!"

Vanity is always the last thing to die, isn't it?

My Four Months Ago Super Infertile Self wanted to kick my Miraculously Pregnant Current Self's ass. Really? You can power though nausea, and boob pain, and reflux, but you're going to be bothered by a thing like abdominal girth when you're HAVING A BABY?? REALLY?? I mean, really. Ugh. I'm still disgusted with you, Sarah.

So today? I caved. I wore a Bella Band over my comfortably unbuttoned pants and it was THE. GREATEST. THING. EVER. Changed my life. It was like wearing yoga pants all day long!

I guess it's one thing to be uncomfortably squished into kind-of-still-fitting pants and have people comment on your expanding middle, but it was quite another thing to be comfortably wearing a Bella Band when another three people ooo'd over my tiny belly today.

Yesterday: Uncomfortable and Fat feeling.

Today: Pregnant and Proud!

Huzzah for elastic! Bring on the Mu-Mu's!

The 80's were a long time ago

2011-11-19T16:44:00.000-05:00

The Scene: Goodwill Outlet - the media bins

Pre-Teen Girl #1: (sifting through videotapes) "Gosh, I so need to get a VCR!"
Pre-Teen Girl #2: "Totally! There are so many good movies on these... what are these things called again?"
Pre-Teen Girl #1: "Um... VCRs?"
Pre-Teen Girl #2: "No, that's not it... ummmm..."
Pre-Teen Girl#1: "Tapes?"
Pre-Teen Girl #2: "Yeah, Tapes! I think that's what they're called?"

Sarah: (OMG I'm so old!)

LubDubLubDub

2011-11-16T10:04:00.000-05:00

172 beats/minute!!

We went in for our second OB appointment this morning and got to listen to the heartbeat. I was so over-the-moon happy to hear that noise that I couldn't help but giggle, and the happiness leaked out of my eyes a bit. I may have done a little skipping through the parking garage on our way out.

So Baby's good, Mom is good, and all is right with the world.

I'm spending the rest of my day finishing Christmas shopping! Making Pinecone Garland! And babysitting the cutest little boy in Richmond! Life is so good. :)

The baby doesn't like enchiladas and other things of note

2011-11-10T21:51:00.001-05:00

Source: urbangraceinteriors.typepad.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I've had some strange conversations lately. Furthur proof that I know everything there is to know about getting pregnant and absolutely nothing about being on the other side. People keep asking me what sex I think the baby is. I don't mind the question, heck, it's so sweet that people are excited about this pregnancy... but apparently it's a common question for people to ask and I have no idea! It's not like I or anyone else has the inside scoop! And I work in medicine, not witchcraft! I asked someone today if I was supposed to know? Do people know? But I mean, really it's 50/50 shot. If you and your husband each pick a sex, someone's going to be right. My analytical brain knows that I have no idea.

Despite repeated pleas, the resident in my pelvis is not exactly forthcoming with information. Unless it's trying to communicate with me gastrointestinally? Perhaps if I keep track of the first letter of every food that catches my eye? On that basis, we can be assured that whatever the baby is trying to tell me does NOT begin with "E". My husband's amazing enchiladas? Apparently the baby doesn't like them. I told the baby it was grounded for bad behavior. It probably hiccuped indifferently.

I was sent home from work at 2pm today because they're doing something to our building that involves fumes. Someone started worrying about the 3 pregnant people in my office, and the Powers That Be decided they didn't want my baby to have three heads. "Really?? It's probably fine, guys! I have patients!" I protested as they shooed me out the door. And the severe case of nausea I'd been nursing all day strangely improved as I drove my pregnant self home. Interesting...

It has been a strange experience, but I've never been so happy to be so ill... the nausea, the sore boobs, and the constipation... I know I'm crazy, but I love them all. Because as long as I feel like hell, I know I must have some crazy hormones happening. And my anxious self needs either awful symptoms or daily bloodwork... so let's go with the nausea. ;)

However, at least at work, I've been trying to keep my symptoms to myself so I'm not THAT pregnant lady... you know... the one who sighs a lot and talks about nothing else for 9 excruciating months. Having been the notoriously infertile one, there are infertile people in my life who claim to still like my glowey pregnant self, and the last thing I want to do is make them hurt.

Maybe it's because I work in medicine and we regularly sit around eating lunch while discussing blood/guts/poop, but I get asked by everyone about 20 times/day how I'm feeling. I always say, "Good! How are you?" But the questions have lately become more persistent. I know people just want to make sure I'm ok, and they're really excited for us, but now they ask a follow up question, "Really? No nausea? No symptoms?"

I guess it's hard to be pregnant gracefully and quietly these days? Is this why women stop talking about anything other than their pregnancy symptoms? Are we socially conditioned to be whiners for three quarters of a year? ;)

Yesterday was the 10 week mark. As we're approaching the end of the nail-bitingly long first trimester, I'm sort of slowly letting myself play with pretty pictures on Pinterest, have conversations with friends about strollers, and hope. An acquaintance asked me today if I had picked out a car seat or a crib yet. "Not yet... I'm too scared." I replied in an overly honest way. I kind of want to throw a party on week 13. A party where we sign up for baby coupons and gorge ourselves on pictures of nurseries, baby booties, and car seat data. It's going to be a wildly good time, who's in?? ;)

Fall Porch!

2011-11-05T15:25:00.000-04:00

It was too rainy for pictures when my mums were in bloom, but I thought I'd show you our fall porch anyways. Just picture happy yellow mums with it all. :)

I make all my wreaths by slowly collecting cast-off floral paraphanalia from the Goodwill Outlet bins. And fake flowers by the pound? A total steal! I enjoy it because I can then make my wreaths as fluffy as I'd like without spending a million dollars. :)

Again, in my cheapness, I bring out the same two fake pumpkins every year. The white one is mine and the orange one is Rob's. I cut holes in the bases of each of them, filled them with rocks, and applied duct tape over the hole so they don't blow away. This year, the fetus got one too! But by the time I got around to visiting Michael's (the day after Halloween), apparently Christmas had already arrived. SO I picked up the last remaining cute little pumpkin... sadly, it was missing it's stem... so they gave me something like 70% off. I attached a branch for a stem, and I think I like it the best of all three! :)

Next year, I just might have to round out the collection with some of the real thing, but for now, fake will do. :)

Snotty Humor

2011-11-03T06:53:00.001-04:00

Rob (who has a cold): "Halloween is a good time to get sick!"
Sarah: "What?? Why??"
Rob: "Because there are lots of immunogoblins!"
Sarah: "bahahaha!"

"Why"

2011-11-02T09:52:00.001-04:00

*I'm about to get all uber religious on you, so if you'd rather not delve into my conservative Catholic views, it's ok with me if you want to go find something fluffier to read* ;)

In 9th grade, my comrades and I were ushered in to what I realize now was a comparatively unbiased sex-ed class. Mrs. Hicks was our teacher, and it was obviously not her favorite job, but she presented us with the information we were supposed to have and left room for her students to have opinions on both sides. For example... to show us that there are two sides to all these issues, on the first day of sex-ed, she asked the class to get out of their seats. She assigned one wall pro-life, one wall pro-choice, and asked us to walk over to the wall we felt was closest to our views.

I can honestly say that until that moment I hadn't really thought about abortion in any real depth, but... dead babies are bad, right? So I walked over to the pro-life wall... with like... 5 other kids. I spent the rest of the day thinking about that class and becoming more and more confident that I chose wisely. However, my friends and family were all shocked by my stance, and, being a pretty impressionable 9th grader, I jumped on the pro-choice bandwagon. I spent the next 10 years trying to believe what everyone insisted was right: "People are overly fertile, the world is overpopulated, embryos are just a random collection of cells, and making babies is a thing to be controlled." Those were the principles that everyone around me believed.

Then I met Rob... who seemed like the last remaining soul who didn't believe in contraception or abortion. And I fought him on those issues for a while. Crazy Catholic boy. But I finally told him which 9th grade wall I'd chosen, and that opened the door for further discussion. And then, years later, we got married. 6 months later, I stopped taking the birth control pill (which I was taking "for irregular periods"... which... yes.... obviously I have... but... anyways), and the babies didn't immediately appear! What?!?

So we went to church, and started attending mass every Sunday like we should have been doing all along. And we prayed and prayed for babies, but they didn't come. Infertility made me pause and evaluate my beliefs. Was I really pro-choice? Are embryos really just a random collection of cells? All my friends started trying for babies, and almost all of them had to put some serious effort into getting pregnant. I kept having to send patients to Infertility doctors. Are people really as fertile as I was taught in school?

I'd finally run out of reasons why Catholics were crazy. I did a lot of reading, took a religious education class at church, and decided to become Catholic. Of course, part of me hoped that'd do the trick and we'd get some babies already. Then two more years passed.

Something was nagging at me and I kept brushing it off. I work in family practice and I prescribe a heck of a lot of contraception. I kept telling myself, "Well, if I don't prescribe contraception, there will be more abortions. And dead babies are worse than the prevention of life, right?" But I kept having to tell myself that. And it still nagged at me.

So I finally grew a pair and sat down with my priest. After a ridiculously deep 3 hour discussion, we concluded that as a practicing Catholic, I really shouldn't be prescribing contraception for contraceptive purposes.

"But this is a major part of my job!" I whined.
"Well, and I'm not sure he is saying this, but... what if God were saying, 'Do you want to prescribe contraception or have a family?' what would you choose?" the priest replied.
:::sigh:::

Obviously God was not saying that, I thought. Was the priest not listening when I told him about our 3.5 years of infertility?? Or our year long adventure in fertility drugs?? But I was tired of worrying about this issue every day, so I walked in to work the next day and politely told my bosses that I can't prescribe contraception for contraceptive purposes any more. Period issues? Ok, no problem. But no more contraception for contraceptive purposes. And they were remarkably understanding. And my patients have been remarkably understanding. There are lots of other providers in our office that are happy to help them with their birth control, so I'm not imposing my conservative views on my patients. I went to confession, and I haven't had to worry about contraception since.

That was on August 25th. My next cycle started on August 31st, and I got pregnant on September 18th.

There's a line of thought that goes something like this, "The goal of life on earth is to get to heaven. God gives you the tools you need to get to heaven." Had we been given babies immediately, I don't know if I'd ever have become Catholic. Had we been given babies immediately, I'd sure as heck still be handing out contraception like candy at work. Had we been given babies immediately, I wouldn't be so madly in love with and grateful for this tiny being in my uterus.

The Other Happiest Place on Earth

2011-10-31T22:33:00.000-04:00

For some reason DisneyLAND is called the "Happiest Place on Earth" and DisneyWORLD is not. Or so I'm told. But I have to say, visiting Disneyworld while gestating a miracle, blueberry-sized baby? Well... that's just magical. Good timing, Baby.

We went with my sister-in-law, Theresa: Disney-o-phile Extrordinare. Theresa is quite possibly the nicest, happiest human being to ever walk the earth. She snuck off at one point to get us Celebration Buttons on which she penned: "We're Expecting!" Rob grinned and very proudly donned his. I got all teared up.

Usually written on those buttons is something like "Celebrating... My Birthday" or "Celebraing... Our Anniversary". So female cast members (employees) everywhere fawned over our unique buttons. One waiter put a sliver of chocolate on my dessert plate that read "Congratulations from the California Grill!" Again with the tearing up. ;)

We had a vast assortment of the most amazing food last week. Our excessively awesome dining plan and the Epcot Food and Wine festival is good for that. There were lots of things that Sarah's normal tummy would have REALLY REALLY appreciated, but apparently our child has fussy tastes and mostly appreciates chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes. It was a week-long culinary adventure, but it really allowed me to pick whatever my picky tummy wanted at the time. ;) The food item I enjoyed most the entire week? A three-flavored popsicle from a snack cart while relaxing in the afternoon shade. Rob joked, "Seriously? Are you going to eat that thing or make out with it?"

Epcot had a fake cranberry bog. I got very excited over it. Rob mocked my enthusiasm with a smirk and a "thumbs down."

We named ourselves: The Three Caballeros, went to a dueling piano bar, and sang our out-of-tune hearts out. I had a virgin margarita (who knew such a glorious thing existed??)

I don't know why we decided to point at Theresa-the-Paparazzi, but we did and it was funny?

I met a blog reader in Epcot! Her name is Emily and she said "Hi! Are you Sarah? You don't know me, but I'm friends with Emily from Imperfect and I read your blog and we're just so happy for you guys!" It was just about the nicest (and bravest!) thing ever, and it totally made my day. Thanks, Emily!

One day I promise to write something that isn't fawning over the miracle in my uterus. I previously wrote that my whole world went Technicolor after I took that test, and well, it hasn't worn off yet. :)

"BABY"

2011-10-19T09:17:00.000-04:00

So if you squint and use your imagination, there's a TEENY TINY baby there... with a GIANT head and tiny little arm and leg buds. And very best of all... a HEARTBEAT!!! All is well in uterus-land. :)

Let's go play in the park!

2011-10-17T20:10:00.000-04:00

That fateful Thursday night? The night of the positive pee sticks? I came home and my FAVORITE nephew in the whole entire world (and everyone else, too) was at my house. So Caroline, Joseph, and I went to the park down the street. This was before the pee sticks. When I thought my boobs were hurting just for fun... or something? Caroline, of course, brought her camera... because she's awesome like that. Having a photographer for a sister-in-law totally rocks. We have one point five million pictures of every family activity... even little outings to the park. Here's her photography website. She's amazing... in my completely unbiased opinion. :)

Anyways, I'm quite enjoying the pictures of me & Joseph from that evening. Mwahahaha... Sarah! You don't know you're knocked up yet. But you will!! In like 2 hours! And it's HILARIOUS!

(ok, Joseph. Please don't kick my boobs!)

I had bHCG #2 drawn today. I nearly died of anticipation, but it was totally worth it. That measly 572, ten days ago? Yeah... now it's 35,712!!!! Go baby! Go baby!!! Make hormones! You're awesome!!

Tomorrow?? ULTRASOUND NUMBER ONE!!! Life is so exciting right now. :) :) :)

The Story

2011-10-12T19:58:00.000-04:00

(last week)
Rob: "So... are you going to have to go back on the pill again?"
Sarah: "What?? Why?!?"
Rob: "Because your period is late."
Sarah: "Nah, it's fine. It's only like 3 days late and my boobs hurt and I have cramps, I'm sure it's coming."

(3 days later... 9pm on a Thursday)
Sarah: OHMYGOD ROBERT! THERE ARE TWO PINK LINES ON THIS PEE STICK!!?! I'VE NEVER MADE TWO PINK LINES!!!!!!!!!

Robert and my sister-in-law, Theresa were sitting on the couch downstairs and I was hysterically gesturing with pee stick in hand. Theresa hugged me and I got pee on her. Sorry, Theresa. My other sister-in-law, Caroline, was in the shower. We yelled for her to put a towel on, and Scantily Clad Caroline and I did the jump up and down hugging thing. I felt exactly the same hysterical happiness as I did when we were getting married. Except I let myself do the happy sob thing this time because I wasn't standing at the altar.

Rob made me pee on a second stick just to check. Except he kept talking to me while I was trying to pee, and I can't pee and talk at the same time, so we dipped a second stick in some drops of pee left in the first cup. 5 seconds later we had a pair of very positive tests.

You know... in The Wizard of Oz... how the the world suddenly goes Technicolor? My world went Technicolor. Rob's eyes were very blue.

And then I sat on the couch holding the pee stick and staring at the wall for an hour. People tried to get me to put the pee stick down. I declined. Everyone else watched TV and glanced worriedly at The Crazy Person Holding The Pee Stick.

We went to bed at midnight. I slept for ONE HOUR that night. I relocated myself to the living room couch and had an entire whispered conversation with my midsection. I wasn't one bit tired the next day. I was freakishly, manically, high on life. I hope teeny tiny babies are built for extreme adrenaline surges like that.

In between patients, I called my OB's office and talked to my doctor's nurse. She said I sounded like a kid on Christmas morning. I tried not to sob out loud on the phone in the parking lot. The sky was very very blue and the grass was freakishly green. I had way too many patients on my schedule to escape and get my blood drawn, so my OB's nurse convinced me to have the lab ladies in my office draw my blood so we could have results that day. My lab ladies promised they could keep a secret.

One of my favorite patients... one of the few that know of our fertility struggles came in to see me for an appointment, and mid-appointment, she told me I needed to "hurry up and get some babies". I laughed, brushed her off, and said we were "working on it." She's coming back to see me in 3 months. Maybe I'll be a little plumper at her next appointment.

4 hours later, I must have looked like hell because my lab lady offered to call and get the results faxed over. 20 minutes later I was holding THE GREATEST PIECE OF PAPER THAT MAY HAVE EVER EXISTED. 572!!! Right on track!!! WE MADE A FREAKING BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!

My OB's nurse called with the good news at the end of the day. We're redrawing the blood work next Monday, and if it's over 6000, I'll have an ultrasound on Tuesday.

Rob's entire extended family had previously planned a big visit to our house last weekend. There were 12 people in our house fawning over our news. BabyCenter.com thinks our baby is due on June 6th (D-Day). Rob and his Dad planned out how they could make onesies with invasion stripes for the occasion. I sat at the end of a very long table of family and felt so happy. We went to mass in the morning and I whispered to Theresa, "Is it unusually bright in here?" "No," she replied, "You're just glowing."

I have to say, I had no idea how fervently people were praying for us to have babies. One friend excitedly told me she prayed an entire rosary for us last week. Another prays for our babies every time she puts her babies down to sleep. I've made a heck of a lot of you cry happy tears today. Thank you for caring. Thank you for listening to my infertility heartache. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for being my friend. And I hope to have blobby baby ultrasound pictures to show you next week!

Oh my God, I can't believe this is really happening!

Yup!

2011-10-12T06:52:00.000-04:00

It really does mean what you think it means! (Rob added the "A+" after I pinned my blood work results to the fridge)

There has been much dancing at our house this past week. I got an impromptu "please stick" prayer and baby blessing from our priest in the middle of the church parking lot on Sunday. And I've never been so happy to have achy boobs in my whole life.

Think sticky thoughts. Say sticky prayers. I love you guys!

Long version of the story tonight, I promise. :)

Dudes...

2011-10-11T20:24:00.000-04:00

!!!

I Love Lamp

2011-10-06T05:45:00.008-04:00

Rob: "You found WHAT at Goodwill Outlet??"
Sarah: "haha... not a REAL Tiffany lampshade!"

Rob and I recently went to see some Tiffany windows at a local church, so Rob's only experience with Tiffany stained glass was the real deal. When I told him I found a "Tiffany" lampshade at Goodwill Outlet, he was more than a little impressed. Unfortunately for my street cred, I think my shade is the Target version of Tiffany. ;)

Actually, I spotted the shade in someone else's cart, and I was coveting it when, miracle of miracles! They decided against it and plopped it into the bins by checkout. I immediately scooped it up. $1.50 for some dragonfly-adorned craftsman charm?? Yes, please!!

I'm kind of madly in love with it. To the point of spending a million hours and a lot of MacGyver-ing with on-hand stuff to make it work since it was designed for an entirely different lamp style. No worries... one bathroom sink drain thingy, a lot of superglue, a few parts from two different lamp harps, some wire, and that shade isn't going anywhere. :)

Since it spent several destructive hours in the Goodwilll Outlet bins, it had a couple of broken panes. Nothing that some glass seed beads and a little modpodge couldn't fix.

From the outside of the shade my repairs are hardly noticeable. I wouldn't sell it on ebay or anything, but I love it!

Probably the best part about it is that it makes my favorite quilt "work" in the room.

My grandmother commissioned a distant cousin of ours to make this quilt for Rob and my wedding present. It has lots of crazy fabric combinations... Christmas fabric, music fabric, strange ladies with hats fabric. It's a very cheerful quilt... for an increasingly cheerful room!

That's the thing about thrifting... if you buy only what makes you over-the-moon happy you'll end up with a room full of happiness!

A Dollar Each?

2011-10-05T17:38:00.000-04:00

"No..." the lady said, "A dollar for both!"

"I'll take em!"
Who doesn't need two vintage water skiis in their living room??
The lady's husband got all excited that I was buying them. He apparently learned to water skii on these skiis and told me all about how to fix them up. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'm slightly terrified of water skiing. ;)

I think Emily Henderson would approve. ;)

On Thrifting Luck

2011-09-22T21:20:00.000-04:00

If you're a thrifter, you know that the thrift store gods are terrible teases. You'll have saved your pennies to go on a mission for Something that you've easily found 50 million other times, and then... once you've accumulated all those pennies... that Something is NO WHERE TO BE FOUND, but in it's place are ALL THE OTHER THINGS THAT YOU NEVER COULD FIND BEFORE. Blast!

I've been slowly saving for dressers for the bathroom renovation for ages. AGES! Ok. Like a month. Saving my spending allowance annoys me, so in my head it's been ages. I was thinking something like this:

Source: google.com via Sarah on Pinterest

These dressers could come out of household funds, but I was trying to be helpful and hurry the process along. This angered the thrift store gods. The thrift store gods believe in patience.

So in the past week I've hit about 10 different thrift stores on a mission for dressers. I gave myself pep talks in the car at every stop. "Ok, Sarah. You are on a mission. Do not be distracted by the pretty milk glass. You are not to look at the fluffy skirts. We are buying DRESSERS! DRESSERS ONLY!"

And then I found this chair at Goodwill Outlet. This solid walnut desk chair with a beautiful chippy finish. In awesome condition. For $15.

I mean... they just don't make seat mechanisms like that any more. This chair is solid.

DAMN YOU, THRIFT STORE GODS!!! I had to work really hard to not shake my fist at the sky.

I knew I'd never forgive myself if I left it behind. For 5 years, Rob had been putting up with the saddest, creakiest, most poorly constructed desk chair ever made in the history of man. I'd had "Nice Desk Chair For Rob" on my thrift list for ages. And I found it on Rob's birthday. So it was meant to be. Ironically, after testing the "new" chair out, Rob preferred my desk chair, and I liked the "new" one so we switched. Now, sans chair arms, I can type at you while sitting crosslegged at my desk. And ok, that alone is totally worth $15. ;)

So cute! It's like they're friends! :)

There are plenty of projects in line before tweaking the office decor, but I will one day knock out some of the brown that threatens to take over in here. I'm thinking my desk is destined for a fresh coat of paint and maybe some shiny new hardware. For now, I like the old, beat up finish of my new desk chair, but we may be in a honeymoon phase. We'll see. The paintbrush tends to win in these situations. ;)

The dresser mission? Is a tale for another day.

Channeling Rapunzel

2011-09-22T20:28:00.000-04:00

I kept putting this post off so I would maybe remember to take decent pictures of my locks in the daylight. But it keeps raining on my days off, so you're getting end of day, bad lighting hair pictures. 3 patients complimented my hair today, which has to be some kind of record. And that's good because I've fallen off the hair diet wagon. I've been happily playing with silicones again for a few weeks.

(What? No! That's not a paint sample up in the guest bath! It's... art... yeah... art!)

I hadn't been in for a trim for 6 months, so I finally went in to see my hairdresser, Bill. After all that hair dieting-silicone/sulfate avoiding, he still pronounced my locks "Dry... not bad, but still dry." So I decided to try a couple of Bryn Alexandra's tricks, and I'm loving the results! Also, I love Bill, because he's happy to let me experiment with slowly channeling Rapunzel. My patients that haven't been in to see me in a while keep saying, "Wow! Your hair is getting long!" If they're overdue for their followup, I then nag them a bit. "I know! I've grown twelve inches of hair since you were last in here!" ;)

I'm still doing the co-washes alternating with sulfate free shampooings as needed, using deep conditioner every time, still styling with the same gel, but I added in healthy doses of silicone heaven: Moroccan Oil and Suave's Curly Mouse. See Brynn's post for the details. I think Curly girls have an inherent need to experiment because we're always on a mission for More Curl! Less Frizz!

The thing I love about using a combination of drugstore products is the coupon game. I scored big at CVS last week. I got 3 bottles of my "deep" (every time for me) conditioner for $2.32/each because I had two coupons, they were on sale, and then I got $3 in CVS Extrabucks to spend at my next visit. I plan on using those Extrabucks on products that will procure more Extrabucks... soon they'll be paying me to take things out of their store! ;) My mother-in-law has taught me well. :)

The Yellow Stenciled Hall

2011-09-17T13:30:00.001-04:00

The upstairs hall has been a bit of a thorn in my decorating side. It's too narrow for pictures on the walls (we kept knocking into them), it has no natural sunlight, and every paint color I've tried has intensified by 5 million percent because it bounces off of itself. But I'm now finally, officially HAPPY WITH THE HALL!!!

I bought an 8x10 stencil on a whim because I had a 40% off coupon, so it was $3. I didn't really know what I was going to use it for... but 2 hours later I was slapping it up on the hall walls. I didn't consult my husband. Decorating works much better if you don't consult your husband. Fortunately, Rob completely agrees with this policy, and just laughed when he found me with a paint bucket and a stencil in the hall. He does have veto power, but he rarely exercises it.

One month, some trim, and some nailgun fun later...

The hall went from this (headache-inducing, blinding yellow):

To this:

I can't get my camera to capture how pretty it is in real life. I blame the lack of hall windows. Surely it's not my photography skills. ;) I'll bribe Caroline into taking some house photos for the blog next time she's here.

Most of the trim has actually not yet been painted. It came primed, so I have some work to do, but I'll be slowly tackling that.

We actually used window casing trim for the chair rail. I like that it's flat on top, so it's like a teeny tiny ledge. I was waffling in the hardware store... I really liked the window casing trim, but was I allowed to use it for a chair rail? I called Karla, who gave me permission. :)

"It's your house!" She reminded me. "If you like it, DO it!"

This was one of those projects that made me feel like This Is Really My House And I Can Do Whatever Crazy Thing I Want! The best thing about the whole project is that Rob has told me over and over again how much he likes it.Which is good... because he nearly went bald trying to figure out how to get that trim angled properly to transition up the stairs and around the corner. We eventually realized we should follow the baseboard's example. Duh. ;) Fortunately, window casing is practically the cheapest trim EVER at 43 cents/foot.

I was drooling over striped runner rugs on Pinterest for ages before finding two mats at Kohls (40% off on sale... for a total of $24). My new runner is actually two (machine washable!!) mats duct-taped together on the backside... a little trick that Pinterest taught me. I adore it. It won't last for 10 years or anything, but it's nice to have something soft underfoot.

I found this mirror at the annual Route 11 Yard Crawl. I fell in love with the faux bamboo frame, and it's the perfect size for the hall.

I really enjoyed having my family photos up in the hall, but they were just too in the way. I think this is my favorite "Before and After"angle.

Before:

After:

::Sigh:: so pretty. :)

Pete (roar!)

2011-09-12T22:19:00.001-04:00

My little brother, Peter, turned FIVE today! I like 5 year olds. He's a hoot. Since it's his birthday, I gave him a call.

Sarah: "Pete! How is it that you're FIVE!?! You're so BIG!"
Pete (logically): "Well, today is my birthday, so I am five!"
Sarah: "That's true! You're so smart. Do you like dinosaurs?"
Pete: "Yeah! I like the wing ones that go really fast!"
Sarah: "Like Pterydactals?"
Pete: "No! The bigger ones that eat carrots!"
Sarah: "Hmm. Ok!"

I was a little behind in my sisterly duties, so Rob and I went to the store tonight for 5 year old boy supplies. Dinosaurs, paratroopers, and construction vehicles were procured. And then (because I am also Five at heart) a jungle-in-a-box was constructed out of left over floral foam, hot glue, and greenery from other projects.

Then, because I find myself soooo hilarious, I addressed the box to "Pete (roar!)" Get it? Bwahahaha!

Rob is the one in our household who takes things to the post office. He loves me. He's also going to love the look the postal ladies are going to give him tomorrow.

Best. Wife. Ever. :)

Pop!

2011-09-07T14:19:00.000-04:00

I walk up to the check-in counter and I'm greeted by an overly enthusiastic older lady who, after seeing that I'm in for an ultrasound appointment, and I have my husband with me, asks me, "SO! ARE YOU GOING TO FIND OUT WHAT IT IS???"
Sarah: "Um. no."
:::pause. What the hell is she talking about? Oh. Is she assuming I'm pregnant? Isn't that a dangerous question to ask a random patient? Do they not do any personnel training around here? Also... you have to be pretty darn pregnant to find out what "it" is. And here I was feeling pretty good about my waistline. Do I look fat today???:::
Sarah: "It's a uterus."
Rob: ::snickers::
Check In Lady: "oh! So you're not one of those."
Sarah: "Go to hell."

Ok. I didn't actually tell her where I thought she should go. I used telepathy for that part. So Rob and I sat in the waiting room for an hour with the overly dramatic, whiny, extremely pregnant chicks, the undisciplined children running amok, and the ridiculous black and white photographs of pregnant bellies! and families! and babies! I latched on to the nearest Southern Living (buried under twelve hundred Parenting Magazines) and refused to look up. I'm well acquainted with my Ob/Gyn survival skills. Rob, on the other hand, has only ever accompanied me to the Reproductive Endocrinologist. He was awed.

Rob: (whispering) "This place is like your version of hell, isn't it?"
Sarah: (very intently studying Southern Living) "Yes. I just don't look up. By the way. After this? We're going to Home Depot for a paint sample. And maybe chocolate."

The saline infusion sonogram was normal, as we expected. But it was RIDICULOUSLY, God-awfully painful and I was in tears the whole time. It was so embarrassing to be THAT patient. I expected to be super macho because the HSG was so easy, and it's basically the same procedure, but I was not super macho this time. Of course, being so hypervigilant about the effect my tears were having on my doctor, what was coming out of my mouth was "Ouch! Ow! Sorry! ::sob:: I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" They were so nice about it, but I could tell I totally stressed them both out, and I feel like I should bring Dr. Dausch and the Ultrasound Tech a bottle of wine each.

Fortunately, Rob held my hands and he did eventually summon all his EMS experience to distract the patient and crack a joke. So, mid-procedure, trying to comfort his sobbing wife, Rob comes up with, "Ok. Fine. You can have TWO paint samples..." That made me laugh, and after explaining my husband's generosity to the room, everyone thought that was pretty cute.

Even after the procedure, once the tears had started I had a hell of a time putting them away. Does that happen to you? Once I start leaking, it's all over. I didn't expect this test to be the answer, but just not having any more tests left to do is kind of disconcerting. After I got dressed, Dr. Daush actually sat down with us and talked about what we've been through, and agreed that we've done it all. She said she'd put us on her short list of people to call in case someone someday freaks out and decides they don't want their baby after all.

In other news, I really like the greige paint sample! "Wheat Bread" by Behr.

Water Balloon

2011-09-06T21:06:00.000-04:00

You haven't heard anything about my uterus lately because we're lacking procreation motivation. Don't get any funny ideas, our libidos are fine, but the lazy uterus is winning. ;) Sarah and Rob are several thousand dollars lighter, and 3 years have passed with no pretty pink lines to show for it. Tomorrow we're grudgingly doing the one fertility test we skipped in our misadventures last year: the Saline Infusion Sonogram.

We're mostly doing it for completeness sake's. If it's negative, then we can offically say there's absolutely no reason in all of normal Western medicine that we don't have babies. And if the test results say there is some reason? Well, that means that Sarah gets to go have surgery to fix the lazy uterus. Sounds fun either way, eh? I guess you can see why we doddled on this last test?

We had an HSG (hysterosalpingogram) last year, where a very pregnant x-ray tech (seriously?? I mean, really. I'm still bitter.) helped Dr. Steingold inject dye into my uterus and took x-rays while that dye flowed through my gloriously wide-open fallopian tubes. That test is mostly to check your fallopian tubes, but it also kind of looks at your uterus. I got a gold star on my HSG. Therefore, we skipped the Saline Infusion Sonogram. We were sort of at the end of our emotional ropes at that point, and tired of doing tests. The Saline Infusion Sonogram involves injecting saline into my uterus while they take an ultrasound. It's a good 3-D picture of the inside of my uterus. It will tell us if I have a uterine polyp that's inhibiting implantation. It's probably going to be perfectly normal.

In other infertility news...

I bought the book Making Babies and read most of it before I re-shelved the tome feeling more hopeless than I was before. I'm not spending hundreds of dollars on acupuncture. I don't want to drink terrible smelling herbal tea. Avoiding Claritin is just not an option for this highly allergic chica.

I was told about this Catholic infertility clinic in Nebraska, and I looked in to NaPro charting. Again, I'm ready to spend my thousands of dollars on something other than (not) making babies. I don't want to meet with a charting specialist 8 times over the course of a year to make sure I'm doing it right. It seems like a scam. It's probably not. I'm just jaded.

The good news is that I've had THREE regular cycles (and counting!) now that I'm off the birth control pills. I guess my hormones just needed a reboot. Next time I won't spend so long waiting to see if it gets better on it's own.

I think in the end we'll be glad we did this one last test. Despite the fact that my (very nice) Ob/Gyn will probably roll her eyes, I'm going to ask her to do a pH and culture of my cervical mucus because the Making Babies doctor guy thinks it's a good idea. We'll probably do the stupid NaPro charting lessons this winter, and then we'll send my fertility charts, medical charts, and test results off to Dr. Hilgers in Nebraska. For $100 he'll do a chart review and send you recommendations. Given all we've been through, for a second opinion... a CATHOLIC second opinion even, that seems like the deal of the century!

A Swanky Nest

2011-09-04T17:26:00.001-04:00

We've just celebrated our FOUR YEAR anniversary! My, we're getting old! We treated ourselves to a weekend at a fabulous little cabin, dinner at my favorite Mexican joint, and I went out hunting for a new comforter. I came home with a gorgeous Calvin Klein number from Home Goods. Ooo La La!!

I have to say, bedding is one of the few things that I like spending real money on. It is infinitely more relaxing to drift off to sleep under quality bedding. Since our comforter acquisition, I've been working hard to make our bedroom a happily luxurious space... for, you know... little to no actual money of course. ;)

I added some art to the decidedly bare walls. I had several vintage cigarette cards printed from a series entitled "Birds of the Tropics", made some shabby mats out of posterboard and burlap, and mounted the cards in dollar store frames, which I spruced up with some gold craft paint. The cigarette card files were free from NYCPL's online collection.

Above our bed, I placed "Swindern's Love Birds" in a thrift store frame. Cute, eh? ;)

I've discovered that apparently I'm attracted to thrifted gold frames with little do-dads on top. I framed little pictures for each of our nightstands. For me: our celebratory jaunt back up the aisle, and for Rob: our favorite honeymoon photo.

Rob has surprised me by mentioning several times how much he likes having that picture on his nightstand. Maybe I've married a romantic, after all!

And, finally, possibly my favorite part of all, I made a swishy bedskirt from the former taffeta "wedding dress curtains" in the craft room. They were too fancy for the craft room, but just fancy enough for our bedroom. It was the easiest project ever. I sliced them longways, bunched them up, and stapled them to the top of the boxspring under the mattress. That bedskirt's not going anywhere. Can I tell you just how fantastic it is to have a bedskirt that will never need adjusting?? :)

I'm so happy with the way the room has turned out.

Of course, the decorating is never done. I'm thinking about painting the insides of our closets some happy blue color, but there are more projects in line before that one. Fear not, Blogosphere, more projects to come!

Hurriquake 2011

2011-09-04T16:02:00.000-04:00

Last week was an adventure and a half with the earthquake, the hurricane, the loss of power for 5 days, and general calamity. Some brilliant person out there coined the term "Hurriquake" and I love it! Fortunately, we're all ok, and Rob's hoping for some good sales to restock the now depressingly empty freezer. We spent a lot of time reading by candlelight... which sounds romantic... and it was... for about an hour on the first day. ;) We love the internet, air conditioning, hot showers, and electric lighting too much to revisit the 1800s.

My go-to hurriquake apparel included pearls and a very high ponytail. High ponytail because of the aforementioned lack of air conditioning, and pearls because pearls make one feel distinguished even if one is feeling decidedly savage.

Projects a plenty!

2011-08-26T21:15:00.000-04:00

This supremely awesome (borrowed) miter saw makes for an extraordinarily functional kitchen. :)

But who really needs food when, ohmygoodness, our latest acquisitions at Lowes are giving me happy palpitations.

Big Fat beadboard and Big Fat molding give me almost as much joy as chocolate. I'm so in love.

I also spent several weeks standing on a chair in the upstairs hall doing a ton of stenciling:

Which, again, makes my heart go pitter-pat. Once the chair rail is up, lots of pictures in actual daylight to follow. Hurray for being "stuck" at home in a "hurricane" this weekend. :)

A Little Poo

2011-08-11T07:20:00.000-04:00

I have several real-life followers into Curly Hair Land, so I thought I should update the masses on what I'm doing to the fluff on my head. I'm amending my curly hair regimen to include shampoo.

I'm exercising more and gardening more lately. And it's ridiculously hot outside. My scalp was getting too oily for the no-poo routine.So I'm washing every-other-day, and once a week I just do a co-wash. Most days, here's the routine:

1) Wet Hair

2) Apply Suave Coconut Conditioner all over (don't rinse)

3) Scrub scalp with Trader Joe's Refresh Shampoo

(which smells like orange flavored heaven...

kind of like the Soarin' ride in Disneyworld, if you're a Disney-phile)

4) Rinse

5) Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Deep Conditioner

The rest of the routine is the same as I blogged earlier.

So I'm still on the no-sulfate, no-silicone kick, and I've worn my hair curly every single day for the past 2 months. Learning how to embrace my curls has been a long and ever-evolving process, one that occasionally leaves me feeling like a rag-a-muffin, but I'm getting better at managing the fluff, and I feel like I should embrace what I've got! :)

Sunflower

2011-08-10T21:55:00.000-04:00

My sunflower is blooming!!!! :) :) :)

Isn't it amazing that something so huge can grow so quickly out of one tiny little seed?

Something Fabulous

2011-08-08T19:47:00.000-04:00

My friends Karla and Andy have just recently finished the most AMAZING addition on their house. It includes quite possibly the most luxurious master bath I've ever witnessed in real life. When Karla asked me what kind of counter tops they should do, I was just dreaming out loud when I suggested "oooo... Carrera Marble would be heavenly." She was sold. :)

Being a fellow penny pincher, she kept the sink cut-outs and presented me with one of them saying, "I don't know what this could be used for, but I'm sure you can find something fabulous to do with it." I love Karla's confidence in my creativity. The marble slab sat in my basement for a few months before the light bulb finally went off in my head.

The edges still need to be sanded down, but I have so enjoyed having this pretty stone on top of my bathroom shelf. It increases my work area and adds some glamor to a somewhat neglected, on-the-list-of-things-to-renovate Master Bath. Thanks, Karla! :)

Grandfathers and Azalea Beds

2011-08-07T22:03:00.000-04:00

Thank you all so much for all your thoughts and prayers and love these past few days. Pop-Pop's party was a success, and Granny is doing well. I actually took two of my three allowed bereavement days (and the world did not, in fact, cease to exist... gasp!). I feel like I'm in a much better emotional place than I could have been had I "powered through". I spent my two days gardening and visiting with friends and family, which I thought was appropriate, given that is how Pop-Pop liked to spend his days.

I tore out piles and piles of weeds from the azalea bed, raked the tiny bits of remaining mulch down to the edges, and used giant bolts, screws, and washers to secure landscaping cloth to the ground. The giant bolts were actually given to us by Rob's grandfather... so there was nice symmetry there. In my head it was a grandfather-y project. :)

Weed-free space secured, I then put the back seats down, and FILLED the station wagon with free mulch from the city dump. I've used and loved this mulch before, and it did not disappoint.

I was covered head-to-toe with dust and dirt by the end of the day. Did you know you can get mulch in your ears?? I didn't.

Rob came out to assess the damage right before I surrendered.

Rob: "You look like a chimneysweep."
Sarah: (considers this shortly, and does a pirrouette in the driveway)
Rob: "Yes. Because all chimneysweeps dance."

Yup. In my Disney-fied head they do.

So, again, thank you all for the sweet comments, for visiting, calling, emailing, and loving us. Thank you, Beth, for reassuring me that it would be a good idea to take some time off. And thank you, my dear, sweet darling husband, for agreeing with Beth, driving me back and forth to Norfolk, and feeding me in between garden sweat-fests. I love you guys.

Regarding Your Abysmal Geraniums...

2011-08-04T10:59:00.000-04:00

My grandfather, "Pop-Pop" specifically requested that he didn't want a funeral or a memorial service, so he probably would not approve of this blog post, but I promise to only say happy fluffy things, and since it's a blog post you can't tell if I'm getting all leaky. So, hah! I win, Pop-Pop. ;)

Pop-Pop died yesterday afternoon. He lead a good, long, happy life, and any tears that happen to leak out are not for the life he lead, but because he was one of those dudes you'd like to have in the world as long as you, too, are a resident. That being said... I am going to wax happily about Pop-Pop for a few minutes.

Pop-Pop and I have the same random sense of humor.When he and my Granny moved from their farm in rural Virginia to a condo on the water in the City of Norfolk, they gave away all their stuffy heirloom furniture and bought the most outrageous (and the very most comfortable) couch that money could buy. We thought they were crazy, but they lived happily ever after with that couch.

Pop-Pop had two boys, and so I think he really enjoyed that most of his grandchildren were girls.
He asked me to dance at my wedding... not to some slow sappy song, but to a wild pop tune. And the man could dance!

He liked to get all wound up and blustery about some things: The city of Norfolk replaced a statue of a historical figure with a piece of modern art and Pop-Pop went on and on about "That GOD-DAMN stack of lunchboxes!" Most of the stories my family jokes about have Pop-Pop muttering about "the GOD-DAMN..." something-or-other.

However, he was really sweet, and he totally got into the silly girl things. As a proudly bald man, he was always the first to tell us we had pretty hair, and he listened bemusedly if we told him how we achieved this latest look.

Headbands are hilarious if you stack them on your head!

Speaking of hair... this is probably my all-time favorite picture of me & Pop-Pop:

The man was afraid of nothing. He ate frog eggs out of a pond just to prove they were edible. He plopped a gigantic tangle of seaweed on his head to "model" with me at the beach. He was a professor of Botony at Radford University, and he was happiest when he was digging in the garden. Lauren & I got lots of ecology lessons:

Rob and I actually got to visit with Pop-Pop and the rest of the family last weekend, and I'm glad I got to see him that last time. He was weak and had a pretty bad case of dementia, but he still had his sense of humor, and with a grin, he wryly told us that my dad's geraniums were "abysmal" and "out of order". I think was referencing the strange variety of geranium that my family has spent years unsuccessfully trying to propagate. I'm actually next on the list of plant whisperers for those damn geraniums. Wish me luck. ;)

Pop-Pop, I'm missing you, but I'm glad you're done with that old body that was giving you so much trouble. I hope you're happily digging in Heaven Dirt today. I bet that's some good soil. I'll be weeding my Azalea bed today. Because if anything's abysmal, it's my very out-of-order Azalea bed. I love you.

How Appetizing!

2011-08-02T18:48:00.000-04:00

I've been really enjoying Secrets From A Stylist on HGTV lately. I aspire to have style like Ms. Emily Henderson. I love her little ad-blip where she says something like "It doesn't have to be PERFECT!" How refreshing. I think she's single-handedly inspired the 12 projects I've got going on at our house right now. :)

So, I fell in love with these curtains from Ballard Designs:

But, of course you know I'm too cheap to just go buy something.
However, I had a king-size flat white sheet from a previously failed project. And a not-quite-right sample of blue paint from years ago. And a stencil. And some hem tape. And 3 hours.

They even match Baby Joseph's booster seat that lives in the corner! Aunt Sarah is way too lazy to put it away. ;)

Another project I'm working on left me with a LOT of framed family photos that needed a home. I picked my favorites and replaced the generic dining room art with beautiful people's smiling faces.

On a roll, I then recovered the dining room chairs with stain-resistant, wipeable fabric, so the younger beautiful people above (and their parents) will feel right at home on spaghetti night.

And... voila! Mini Dining Room Makeover!

Isn't it funny how curtains just make a room feel "finished"? Of course, this room isn't finished. Just because I can't think of anything else to do to it right now doesn't mean it's done. ;)

Sputnik

2011-07-27T17:27:00.001-04:00

“Much of the beauty that arises in art comes from the struggle an artist wages with his limited medium.”

–Henri Matisse

So, I fell in love with this:

capiz lotus pendant

and I was intrigued by this Ikea pendant

...which got me drooling over 1960's "sputnik" light fixtures... so delightfully kitch and so appropriate for the period of our house.

link

and THEN Pinterest lead me to The Feminist Housewife, who inspired me with her project:

and... VOILA!

I spent my indoor time at the beach (12-3pm every day... yay vampire skin!!) whipping up a "chandelier" for our entry hall using plastic bottles, a hanging flower basket, wire, and some varied shades of spray paint. I'm kind of madly in love with it.

My entire family-in-law thinks I'm crazy.

This may be because I demanded that no one throw ANY BOTTLES AWAY!! And when my chandelier supplies were running low I accused them all of dehydration. ;) Caroline captured my crazy eyes. I was definitely not just making crazy eyes at her because earlier that day she was taking pictures of me while eating a banana 5 minutes after I woke up. Suffice it to say my life is very well documented. ;)

My in-laws just don't understand my "art." In fact, they kept joking that it was a "Royal Wedding" hat. :::tosses hair in Misunderstood Artist way::: ;)

It's done! It's fun, and whimsical, and makes me happy. :)

$3.50 window box

2011-07-24T21:31:00.001-04:00

This little window box is brought to you by... fate. The previous renters of our long-ago townhouse left it on the back patio when they moved out. Four years later, I've finally gotten around to finding a place for it. :) And when did I decide to do this? On a heat-index warning "Outdoor Exposure Should Be Limited" Saturday. My camera took it's time defogging. :)

In the meantime, I had a whole conversation with this little guy. He didn't seem to be minding the heat. Isn't he cute??

Ok. We're finally defogged. Back to business. So the wire window box was free, the basket inside was found at Goodwill Outlet... so at 59 cents/pound it was probably... 50 cents? And the annuals were on the clearance rack at Lowes for 75 cents each. Not too shabby!

I think it prettifies our non-functional garage side-door. Non-Functional? Well... It was locked when we bought the house, and we weren't given the key. We never ever use this door, so we didn't discover that we couldn't open it for a good solid year of home ownership. 2.5 years later... we still haven't bothered to address it. :)

I really like prettifying the walk from the driveway to the back door. It's so nice to come home to flowers!

Life Tree

2011-07-23T12:18:00.000-04:00

A local "Groupon"-like deal was advertised last week for a local nursery: $25 for $50 worth of plants. Sneed's nursery is a cute little place right next to my house, but I rarely ever shop there because it's usually more expensive than Southern States. I happily scooped up that deal!

I bought a GIANT high quality, double layered, insulated plastic pot at a yard sale (for $5!) this summer. It was just calling for an Arborvitae. And not a wimpy little Arborvitae, an enthusiastic, enormous Arborvitae.

"Tree of Life?" Rob said.
"Huh! I guess so! ...Maybe it will bring us babies?" I joked.

So our off-centered entryway makes a little more visual sense now. I'm loving my new plant acquisition ($50 exactly... it was meant to be!), and I'm excited to decorate it this winter for Christmas. ;)

ps: see my one giant sunflower to the right of the steps?? It has a bud! I'm so excited!!

My Creativity Mojo

2011-07-17T20:02:00.000-04:00

My Creativity Mojo has been severely drained over the past 3 months by this darling little production:

The home-schooled kids at church do a Mini Shakespeare production every summer. This year was The Tempest, and I volunteered to help with costumes.
It. Was. So. Freaking. Cute.
It was SO GOOD!

I volunteered thinking it would be a lot of prop making and iron-on-taping... it's Mini-Shakespeare, right? Wrong. One of the Moms and I were sewing (eek!) all those crazy fluffy shirts and doublets and whatnot every Thursday evening from March through July. I'd never followed a pattern in my life, so it was quite an adventure.

However, I made some new friends; I got to hang out with the most awesome, most eloquent teenagers of all time, and really, that's what this reproductively challenged chick needed. I guess I finally decided to stop waiting for my uterus to give me permission to do all the fun *Mom* stuff. ;) But next year? Maybe I'll volunteer for props... or snacks... ;)

Feeling totally burnt out, the annual family beach trip arrived, and we merrily traveled down the coast. I slept more on that vacation than I have ever slept in my whole entire life, and came back rested, relaxed, and refreshed! Of course that meant I had to give my neglected house a hug upon my return.

"I LOVE YOU, HOUSE!!!" I shouted.
"You're crazy, you know." said Rob.

In the past 24 hours I've done 40 million fun little projects I'd put off due to Creativity Mojo Depletion. I spent 2 hours at the craft store frolicking down almost every aisle. Oh just you wait, Blogosphere. ;)

I'll leave you with some curtains I lengthened this afternoon. (I LOVE IRON-ON TAPE!!!!!) Pinterest gave me the idea to add a stripe in the upper-middle instead of at the hem.

I had a remnant of a completely different brown velvet in my fabric stash, and I was pleasantly surprised that the two shades play so nicely together. If I had a Frivolous Curtain Fund, I'd buy non-brown curtains, since we're apparently really focused on Brown in this room... but these were sitting in a box in the basement, and I guess it adds to the room's "study" like feel? I'll brighten it up one of these days ...Now, my dear Watson, where did I put that pipe? ;)

O-Chem for Curls

2011-07-05T21:20:00.003-04:00

I remember thinking around age 15, "I wish I didn't have to shampoo. Even the "moisturizing" shampoos dry my hair out." But Teen Magazine told me shampooing was a good idea, so I didn't question the need for shampoo again for 13 years. Teen Magazine, you were wrong.

Awed by Childfree Chic's gorgeous red ringlets, I followed her link to an enormous vault of information: NaturallyCurly.com. And I learned this: Curly Hair is like Cashmere. The "Wash and Wear" rules don't apply. My sister-in-law, Theresa, doesn't even need conditioner for her gorgeous, silky, Pantene-straight hair... Me? I've been using ONLY conditioner for two weeks and I've never had less frizz. In fact, those stupid frizzy wisps at my hairline? What-do-ya-know... they're ringlets in hiding.

See? This is why it's good I have a photographer for a sister-in-law. Because otherwise, this is the kind of shoddy camera work you'd get: Half-of-Face Photography. ;)
Just kidding... I just have a cold and that was the most energy I could put into taking a picture of my frizzies turned ringlets. I'm pretty impressed with those curls, and that's not even a great hair day! That's after lying around on the couch with a cold all evening!

I've been following a Sulfate-Free, Silicone-Free hair diet, and my hair is very happy. The chemistry of it all gets very complicated, but I'm avoiding Sulfates because they dry the hair out. I'm avoiding Silicones because they do a good job of smoothing hair down, but Silicones build up if you're not shampooing with Sulfates. Fortunately, NaturallyCurly.com has a product checker that will tell you what your product has in it. Or you can practically take an O-Chem class learning to read the fine print on the bottles.

There are all kinds of other tricks I'm now trying on my curly hair. I'm co-washing, plopping, & pineappling. I'm using flour sack towels on my wet hair instead of regular towels. And this cheap-skate is happy because this whole routine is SO inexpensive.

Co-Wash:

Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut Conditioner ~$2 (scrubbing with this does the trick!)

Conditioner:

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Deep Conditioner ~$3 (I follow the co-wash with this)

Gel:

L.A. Looks Sport Gel ~$2

Yup. So I went from the crazy expensive ~$30/bottle stuff to the $2/bottle stuff. And the $2 stuff is totally better. It's all in the ingredients and a couple of little tricks.

Red, White, and Grayish-Brown

2011-07-04T13:00:00.001-04:00

Because I'm just THAT patriotic, I painted my front door red this weekend! ;)

Actually, I had this quart of red paint in my garage for 2 years. It was the perfect Front Door Red, but it just clashed so badly with the formerly Robin's Egg Blue trim that I couldn't bring myself to actually use it until the trim paint was finished.

I am madly in love with this color. On the first try! That was easy! ;)

Expelliarmus!

2011-06-27T22:17:00.000-04:00

My sisters-in-law, finally fed up with the 40 million questions I always have after attending the Harry Potter movies with them, demanded that I finish reading THE ENTIRE SERIES before the last movie comes out in a few weeks. That's a lot of reading.

So that's where I've been. Reading thousands and thousands of pages of Harry Potter. Alice has been "helping" by alternately trying to lay on my book or snoozing on the lambskin nearby. Cats are so useful.

I borrowed the first 6 books in the series from the library, but as I finished the 6th book, what did I find in the Goodwill Outlet bins? THE LAST BOOK! It was meant to be. :)

Only about 500 pages to go. And as much as I moaned about my sisters' outrageous demands... I have to say, I'm a little sad to be almost done with Mr. Potter's story.

The Obedience Training is Working

2011-06-20T19:28:00.000-04:00

31 day cycle! With an 11 day luteal phase! That's quite reasonable! So I think my uterus deserves a round of applause. Good Job, Uterus. Now, please keep working.

There, I fixed it!

2011-06-19T19:19:00.001-04:00

Slumbering peacefully is not something Rob and I do well. We're more the Tosser and Turner variety.

I'm a cover stealer. Shortly after we were married, I apparently stole the covers while sound asleep and then wickedly laughed at my husband when he protested. I deny any recollection of this event.

Instead of just casually rolling over in the middle of the night like a normal person, Rob nimbly vaults his entire self into the air before diving back onto the mattress. If there was an Olympic event for Body Slamming of Beds, Rob would win Gold every night.

Not helping matters was our unresearched purchase of the cheapest mattress in the store. I'm not even going to try to defend that one.

So after 3 years of sleeping on el cheapo mattress, it was still relatively comfortable, but oh my goodness I wanted to kill my husband every time he rolled over... or breathed. That mattress practically squeaked if you looked at it. But I had a theory. I was convinced it was the boxspring, not the mattress. Rob didn't believe me. But I was right. :)

I proved this to him using highly scientific methods: I jumped on the mattress on its own on the floor (no squeak), I did my very best bed body slam (no squeak), and then I ~~breathed~~ pressed on the boxspring (horrendous squeak). Hmmm... who was right?? Oh! That'd be ME! ;)

After a little Googling, I discovered that most box "springs" are made of wood and cardboard. Yes. Cardboard. So glad I payed hundreds of dollars for cardboard. A few failed attempts at WD-40-ing the place where the cardboard and wood meet, I decided that clearly this wimpy piece of cardboard was not structural. So I removed it.

And the squeak is gone! And I love my husband again.

and also, My Spleen has a Mustache

2011-06-18T21:39:00.001-04:00

You know how I thoroughly enjoy making fun of my defective girl parts? Of course, any Oprah-watcher would correctly diagnose that as a defense mechanism. So, I've decided to go all Granola, and I've been working on saying nice things to my uterus lately. I have made the life-altering decision that, dudes: My Uterus Is Misunderstood.

And here all along, I thought she was just a stupid bitch who wasn't trying hard enough at her ONLY PURPOSE IN LIFE.

But it turns out, maybe she's pretty disappointed that she hasn't gotten knocked up like all her uterus friends? So lately when I catch myself holding my breath while doing Period Math and participating in

The Never Ending Thought Process:

"I stopped the pill 28 days ago and I had stretchy mucus on day 20 so maybe I ovulated? And OMG we're approaching an actually normal luteal phase time frame! That is a HUGE DEAL!! Good job, Uterus!! Way to cycle!
NO! Wait! STOP THERE! Don't think that next thought!!!
Don't do it! Doggie paddle away from that thought! PADDLE HARDER!!!
...Noooooooo.....

.................
Maybe I'm pregnant?
......................

Ok. Seriously?!? Shut UP, Sarah. Calm down. Of course you're not pregnant. We've been at this for how long now? 3 years? Really, can we just take a logical step back and not get all worked up about this phenomenally normal cycle, please? You know the statistics are abysmal at this point. And besides, you have at least 2 more years until the magical 5 year mark when everyone's Aunt miraculously gets pregnant after giving up on infertility treatments. ;)
Yes, you can too have a caffeinated beverage... because obviously you're not pregnant.
And also... maybe stop holding your breath... It's probably not good for the baby. (haha) "

So anyways, after The Never Ending Thought Process releases me from it's sucking vortex death grip for the 4 MILLION BILLIONTH time, instead of immediately thinking grumpy, despairing thoughts at my unproductive girl parts, I have decided to visualize patting my uterus on the head like a nice puppy.

What? Uteruses have heads, right?
...
This is why I struggled through anatomy, isn't it?

Ok. I'm visualizing the fundus of my uterus as the head. And I'm visulizing giving it nice little doggie-head pats, while mentally saying, "I'm sorry about all this. You're sad about it too, aren't you?"
And my new friend, The Uterus? She pouts with her sad little puppy eyes and nods.

Yes. Obviously uteri don't have puppy eyes. And they don't often nod in response to questions.

Didn't I already tell you infertility makes you crazy? I know it's completely ridiculous. But it reduces The Neverending Thought Process carnage, so I'm going with it. ;)

Husband as Deer Repellent?

2011-06-14T18:28:00.000-04:00

Someone told me that husband-pee works as deer repellent in the garden. I'll let you know how it works. :) Something thinks my flowers are tasty.
I promise I didn't put pee on anything for human consumption.

Non-Microwaveable = Fancy

2011-06-13T19:24:00.000-04:00

When I got married, I had lots of people tell me I *had* to choose and register for a china pattern. And I said "Hah!! Nooo!" I'm sooo not a china-using gal. I'm still madly in love with my Corelle, thankyou!!

credit

We add to the Corelle occasionally, but we've been married for almost 4 years (wow!) and not a single dish has chipped or broken. That's my kind of dishware.

But I can respect the fancy dishes peeps. There is something fabulous about collecting a set of something beautiful over time. I didn't understand the draw until I found myself in a Lennox store with a friend-of-a-friend, as she was using some of her wedding gift money to complete a set of china. She spent an absurd amount of money on ONE PLATE, but it was like buying jewelry. Very breakable jewelry.

Lennox - Autumn

She showed me how some of the details are done by hand, those grapes are little raised bunches, and how the plate just *feels* special. Her grandmother collected the same set, so there was an emotional connection there. I liked that idea.

Still. My goal is to have nothing in the house that will make me cringe if my nieces and nephews touch it with their sticky, goldfish-cracker-encrusted paws. If I were to have fancy dishes, I'd prefer "fancy" dishes that small children can enjoy with me. I don't want dishes that are too snobby for jelly sandwiches.

And so enters Centsational Girl with her knowledge of fancy French "Le Cadeaux Triple Weight Melamine" dishes. I mean, how pretty are these??

I would, of course, be super boring and go for one of the white patterns, but they are BEAUTIFUL plates! And, despite being plastic, they're fancy because they can't go in the microwave (and because they're ridiculously expensive for plastic plates). Highfalutin', eh? ;) How fun would it be to have "fancy" (but mostly indestructible) dishes at Aunt Sarah's house?

Worth it's Weight in Pennies

2011-06-06T21:59:00.001-04:00

There are no dressing rooms at Goodwill Outlet. So there is some guesswork involved in buying things. I often buy things that don't end up fitting perfectly, but that's why I have a pile of "Free to Good Home" clothing in my guest room. We're like a Bed & Breakfast & Clothier around here. They key to thrifting your entire wardrobe is this: You Must Buy Quality Stuff.

My fabulous thrifting buddies: my sisters-in-law, somehow never got a previous education in clothing brands. I highly doubt they've ever gotten totally materialistic over anything. They're not the type of girls that lust after Coach purses.

I am that type of girl.

I get a lot of blank stares while I'm having palpitations over something pulled from the bins.

"How do you know this stuff??" Caroline asks me.

So now, at long last, I'm finally writing a list of Thrift-worthy clothing brands. There are, of course, a million other palpitation-inducing brands out there, but this is a fairly comprehensive list of what I've found thus far in Richmond. And, sure, I break the rules every once in awhile, but I almost always wish I hadn't.

Worthy of Palpitations
Anthropologie (though they don't really have a house brand, so this requires some guesswork)
Burberry
Garnet Hill
North FaceSaks
5th Ave
7 for All Mankind Jeans
Vera Wang

Good Buys
Ann Taylor
Ann Taylor Loft
Anne Klein
Banana Republic
BCBG
Express
J. Crew
The Limited
Nine West
Ralph Lauren
White House Black Market

Decent Stuff if Still Brand-New
Cato
Charlotte Russe
Forever 21
Gap
Merona/Mossimo (Target)
New York and Company

Don't Buy
because it won't last & it can't handle more than one owner
Most things from J.C. Penny (A.N.A., Worthington, East 5th)
Anything from Kohls (Simply Vera, Sonoma, Apt 9)
Old Navy

Don't Buy
because, although some of their new stuff is cute,
their old stuff that's now at the thrifts is Frumpy:
Land's End
LL Bean
Talbots

Manly Men Wear Hot Pink

2011-06-06T20:03:00.000-04:00

I found this in the Goodwill Outlet Bins last week.

It's Burberry! It's Burberry! And OMG it'd fit my husband!!

But my husband claims he's too manly for pink. So I sold it on Ebay for $31.

My sisters-in-law claim they don't know the good brands to look for at the thrifts. They looked at me blankly when I whispered, "It's Burberry!" in awe. So I'm going to compile a list. Maybe I'll go all out and make it an Alphabet of Awesomeness. That may be too much work. Maybe I'll list the Awesomeness Alphabetically.

Dirt and The Meaning of Life

2011-06-03T23:09:00.001-04:00

Dudes, I've fallen in love with my garden. Which is good, because man, does it need some love. I know it's true love because my garden has given me multiple rashes, numerous bug bites, some serious bruises, and achy muscles... but I'm still running home every night thrilled about digging in the dirt. I may be in an abusive relationship. But my garden gives me flowers every day, so that makes it ok... right?

I planted 12 sunflower seeds on either side of my front porch, and 12 little seedlings are peeking their heads out of the dirt. I may or may not check on them twice a day.

I'm spending a lot of time covered in dirt lately because my grandfather has been on my mind. Pop-Pop worked as a Professor of Botany and he was a Gardener Extraordinaire. He was so proud of my science degrees. He's the man who ate frog eggs out of a lake simply to gross me out, and sat with 10-year-old me on the beach: waxing poetic about ecosystems and the meaning of life... while offering me a sip of terrible tasting scotch.

Pop-Pop informed me that the point of life was to reproduce. When I, in all my pre-teen self assurance informed him that I didn't want to have babies! Ever! He blustered that "By Golly, if you don't reproduce, you have failed at your evolutionary purpose in life!" I had trouble wrapping my 10-year-old brain around this concept, and fortunately, when I was 26 and in the middle of fertility treatments, Pop-Pop kindly revised his theory to include, "The Gloriously Decadent Life You Can Have Without Babies!!"

Pop-Pop and Granny have been assuring us for the past 20 years that they were "Ready to go!" ...which I guess is good information to have, but, you know, has always been kind of hilariously morbid. Pop-Pop repeatedly informed us that if we ever saw him slumped over dead in the garden we were, "Not to call 911 until you see flies buzzing!"

Pop-Pop's still with us, but unfortunately all of his beautifully acquired knowledge is gone. He's recently developed very rapidly progressing Alzheimer's... which just seems cruel. It makes me sad that I wasn't ready to putter around digging in the dirt until now. I'd like to have had the chance to putter around with him.

I saved a hydrangea bush from certain death by creeping vines the other day, and I called my granny to brag about the pretty blue hydrangea flowers.

Pop-Pop uncharacteristically perked up, so she handed the phone to him. I don't think he knows what a blue hydrangea is anymore, but he whispered "The Blue Hydrangea" back to me a couple of times. I had trouble not crying.

We have a visit to see them soon, and I'm worried that seeing him so deteriorated so suddenly is going to turn me into a sad little puddle. I don't want to be a sad puddle!! Any advice, Blogosphere? Do you have any extra backbones for me to borrow?

I try to refrain from informing my husband that he's right about everything, because he's a boy and that kind of information goes to their heads, but Rob had an interesting point the other night. He said, "You know, in a way it's good that we won't get to do everything we ever wanted to do with our grandparents, because it keeps them on our minds." I liked that. Armed with thoughts of Pop-Pop, those weeds don't stand a chance.

Robbing the Cradle

2011-06-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

I have a new boyfriend. His name is Colton. You know Colton, he's Mary-Carolyn's son from Longbrake Living. And he's THE CUTEST. THING. EVER. We started out as BFFs when, within minutes of his arrival, he taught me THE FUNNEST GAME EVER. It's called: "Ok. First I put my head down, then you put your head down, then we giggle about it!"

We also played, "Pat the furniture"

and then we played what was definitely my favorite game: "Walk to other side of ottoman, then walk back and hug Sarah while she blushes at the cuteness."

... at which point, Joseph (my nephew) maybe got a little jealous. Joseph's mom, Caroline, found the whole thing hilarious so lots of pictures were taken (thank you, Caroline!)

Joseph put on some good tunes... (Alice the cat watched from above. She had a very stressful weekend. I can't imagine why...)

...and I danced him around the living room. All was forgiven. ;)

I had boy babies fighting over me all weekend. My ego may be slightly inflated today, and I think I'm having the shakes from baby withdrawal. ;) I may have told Rob about 50 times, "Colton thinks I'm the Bee's Knees!"

Alice the cat was so happy to see the babies go home. ;) Poor misunderstood kitty. Joseph knows a couple of animal noises, and he's completely convinced the kitty says "woof!" He is not at all interested in learning, "meow." Alice spent the weekend lurking under couches and spying on the babies from safe distances.

It was a super fun weekend. Lots of thrifting with some very fun ladies, lots of food, some girly drinks. I feel very chill-axed. I'm so glad you guys made the trip! Thank you! Thank you!! :)

Happily Wavy and Crazy

2011-05-23T21:14:00.000-04:00

I'm really grateful that we're living in a decade that's feeling very democratic with regards to acceptable hair styles. It's all very "embrace what you have," which I think is fairly rare in the history of hair. So... here's my third and final post in this series on what I'm doing to my locks these days.

I still don't have it all figured out, but when I tweak something, it's generally something minor. I'm content with my shampoo/conditioner regimen, and I think I will be content for years to come. I occasionally try a new curl boost or smoothing serum depending on the season, the humidity, and my mood. I find that my waves require some kind of leave-in product after shampoo/conditioning, even if I am using the most awesome shampoo ever.

I really like Redken 07 Curl Perfector for when I'm feeling like having curls. It's awesome stuff. Turns my waves into curls without making them crunchy.

I'm still searching for the perfect regular old smoothing cream for when I'm not feeling like having curls. I used to love Sunsilk's Thermashine Detangling spray, but it's been discontinued. I have an ULTA coupon, so I'm going to try Pureology's Shinemax stuff.

Anyways, so here's the lowdown on how I've embraced my waves without looking like Einstein...
Day One: Wash + apply Redken 07 Curl Perfector. Move on with life.

Day Two: Wake up looking like crazed 80's maniac.

Plug in hair curlers, hop in shower with awesome fluorescent green shower cap, dry off, apply 7-8 hot rollers, do makeup in 5 minutes or less, remove hot rollers.

and later that day, the hot-rolled curls are a little calmer:

If I want the just-out-of-hot-rollers look all day sometimes I'll use a little Dove Hairspray, but I usually skip that step. Hot rollers are really the easiest thing in the world to do. People get intimidated by them, but I don't understand why. It's WAY faster to throw your hair up into hot rollers than to fumble around with a curling iron. AND your hands are free to do other things (like apply makeup) while the hot rollers are beautifying your hair. I use a "travel pack" of hot rollers, so they're very compact. Also... babies think a head full of hot rollers is HILARIOUS. I have 4 different babies in my life that will attest to that fact. ;)

Wavy Hair Misadventures

2011-05-21T22:52:00.003-04:00

Emily asked for some pictures of the hair awesomeness that resulted from the fancy shampoo. And while composing that post in my head, I realised I had a LOT more to say about the pouf on my head. So I've decided to give you a history of my Wavy Hair Misadventures. Prepare for some very bad childhood hair.

It started out in big, loose, platinum blonde curls:

Don't worry, Sarah. One day you'll figure out how to deal with your crazy hair.

My mom tells me that I insisted on getting bangs because the big sister on the Cheerios box had bangs and I wanted "Big Sister Hair". Note to future self: do not get fashion advice from the Cheerios box.

That last representation may not be entirely accurate, because I'm pretty sure we're still in our pajamas so therefore there is at least some bed-head going on. But I had to include it because we're playing "doctor" and I look like a bit like a mad scientist. Those waves did not help me look like a qualified professional.

The kids at school asked me why I didn't brush my hair? Kids are mean. All my friends had perfectly stick-straight hair and no one understood my waves. Of course, I have to qualify any critique of my hair with the fact that it was the late 80's/early 90's. Hair was big, and bangs weren't so bad... even really bad bangs.

Until I was about 12 I don't remember giving much thought to my hair. Unfortunately, I then became a teenager. Ugh.

I would not volunteer to be a teenager again if you paid me a million dollars. I was so upset with my 7th grade school picture. I vividly remember having this very surprising and very sudden realization that I had dorky hair and no fashion sense. Fortunately, my mom really listened to my pre-teen angst and had the best solution ever. She gave me a subscription to "Teen Magazine". Major Mom-points.

(Teen Magazine 1995... yup... that's Jessica Alba.)

So I figured some stuff out about fashion, hair, and um... not wearing dorky turtlenecks with dorky green vests with dorky green pants? Oh, and I started the very long process of growing out most of those crazy thick bangs. ;)

"Teen Magazine" wasn't into curls either though. I spent many nights frying my hair with the hairdryer and then wrapping it tightly in wide headbands to try to get it to flatten out. And so I give you... triangle head:

A couple years later I went off to college. As my first official rebellious college act, I dyed my hair fire-engine red. My college adviser didn't recognize me and very concernedly asked if my parents knew what I had done? I'm so sad I have no pictures of the crazy red hair. After the crazy red faded, I embraced the blonde. I highlighted the HECK out of it. I grew it out, hacked it off, fried it with a million appliances. I tried every hair product out there. College was hard on my scalp.

My hair was quite relieved when I became a grad student and was way too broke and way too busy to continue with the chemical warfare. And what-do-ya-know? It's been 8 years since I've touched the hair dye and I have way better highlights now than I ever had in college...

I'm going to complete this dissertation on wavy hair with a third post next week. I'm going to show you what I do to this grown-up head of hair. Poor waves. They went through a lot of drama before I finally decided to like them.

I can tie my hair in a knot!

2011-05-20T06:05:00.002-04:00

My hair has never been long enough to tie into a knot. And, ok, it's not a very stable knot yet, but Dudes!
This is so exciting!!! And definitely blog-worthy!

I've been meaning to blog about hair stuff for like 6 months, but I keep getting distracted by essential literary gems like Oatmeal Containers as Lampshades. That, and the blog-o-sphere is so inundated with sponsored product testimonials. I don't like sponsored product testimonials. I like broke blogging. ;)

So I think I blogged earlier about FINDING A HAIR GUY WHO UNDERSTANDS WAVES!!! Truly a life-altering discovery. He babbled on, like all hairdressers do, about how I needed good, quality product, I had dry hair, waves need moisture, blah blah blah. But I figured it was just a sales pitch until haircut #3 with Bill, when he grabbed my sad, dry, frizzy waves, and emphatically said,
"Sarah! Your hair is dry! You need GOOD conditioner!"
Sigh. Fine. I played along.
"Ok, Bill! What do you suggest?" as I'm internally rolling my eyes, bracing for the sales pitch.

And then he did something completely unexpected. He suggested something they don't sell in his salon.
"What?!?" I think, "Maybe he's serious?!"

Pureology Hydrate

So I went out and spent a pot of gold on shampoo and conditioner. And dudes. He was right. And dudes. This stuff lasts. ONE bottle of this shampoo and TWO bottles of conditioner lasted me SEVEN months. I've never been so content with my crazy waves. Are they perfect and frizz-free and gorgeous all the time? No. Is that possible? Probably not in Virginia. ;) Are they way freaking better? Yes. So maybe there's something to be said for the occasional luxury.

So tell me, what beauty products are worth your pots of gold? Or are you just naturally that beautiful? ;)

Acute Chocolate Deficiency

2011-05-19T22:04:00.000-04:00

If my husband were telling you this story... he might tell you that the earth-shattering after-dinner revelation that we had NO CHOCOLATE IN OUR ENTIRE HOUSE gave me the same horrified expression most people reserve for crates of dead puppies.

Hormones are hard.
Acute Chocolate Deficiency is a real thing.

So when I returned from a long evening of over-enthusiastically volunteering after a long day of over-enthusiastically working, I found ice cream sandwiches in the freezer and this on my keyboard:

And that, my friends, is why I picked Rob. And why he has 50 million billion husband points.

French Glass is possibly better than Oatmeal Container

2011-05-18T18:23:00.001-04:00

Rob and I found this pineapple chandelier a couple of years ago at the ReStore. It was brand-new in the original box, but it didn't have any glass shades. So I improvised with some shades I found for next to nothing at Goodwill. Unfortunately, they were eternally crooked:

I'm not even kidding. I didn't stage that. That's just how they sat. It annoyed the heck out of me!

So I decided I wanted mini drum shades. Then I researched mini drum shades. Oh my gosh. Everyone wanted like... $20 PER tiny, stupid lampshade. Obviously, that wasn't happening.

But then I finished a carton of oatmeal.

And thought, "Hmm... this might make a good lampshade?"

It was turning out pretty nicely. It was going to be freaking cute. And cheap. I was going to be a DIY rockstar! I still needed to cover the carton with thin muslin...

... But then I went to Goodwill Outlet.
These beautiful glass shades called me from the bins:
"We were made in France!" they said. (in high-pitched, cute little voices)

...and... ok... they beat the pants off my oatmeal lampshade. ;)

France wins. :)

Let the madness begin...

2011-05-17T22:41:00.000-04:00

Photographic evidence of my LAST! BIRTHCONTROL! PILL! (ever!) (we hope)

The only thing I'll miss about them is the giant boobs part. Meh. Giant boobs are over-rated. ;)

We did find it mildly amusing to have this conversation periodically:

Sarah (jumping to action in a fake panic): OHMYGOSH! I almost forgot to take my BIRTHCONTROL PILL! WHAT WILL WE DOOOO!?!?
Rob: I'll go buy condoms IMMEDIATELY!!
Sarah and Rob: (snarky laughter)

Ok, Uterus. Don't freak out, but you're on your own. Be normal. Other people's version of normal. Remain calm. Let me know if you need me to call a normal uterus to talk you off the ledge. I'll call Caroline and have her hold the phone to her pelvis.

Geometric. Symmetrical. Slightly Girly.

2011-05-15T21:26:00.001-04:00

At some point I'd like to get a rug for the upstairs hall. See, the thing about split levels with beautiful hardwood throughout is that echos love split levels. The lack of a clear delineation between all the floors results in a fairly noisy house. The solution is clearly either wall tapestries or a rug. Obviously, since I just spent a month working on a symmetrical picture wall, I'm thinking wall tapestries are not the answer. ;)

There are other things on my "To-Purchase" list right now, and every rug I love is either hundreds and hundreds of dollars or gets terrible reviews... but let's dream.

Land's End

overstock

homedecorators

Ok, so Thrift Stores... this is what I'm looking for. Geometric. Symmetrical. Cheerful. Mildly Girly. Please magically have one of the above rugs available. In 2'x8'. That's not so much to ask... is it? :)

Yellow and Blue

2011-05-10T20:41:00.000-04:00

My favorite spring outfits this year have been Very Bright! And! Ruffly!

My sister sent me this fun little blue and white toile frock for my birthday. It has pockets! And it was so perfect for the heat wave Saturday we had a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know why I look so grumpy in this second picture. I think I wasn't awake yet. Just focus on the fun ruffles. ;)

Also... do we like the larger sized blog pictures or are they kind of overwhelming?

Salty Mocha Frappe, anyone?

2011-05-08T16:08:00.001-04:00

I cried into my Mocha Frappe on the drive home from church today because the teenage McDonald's server was the third random person to wish me a "Happy Mother's Day" this year.

Rob promised that next year he'd buy me a T-shirt stating:

I love my husband. ;)
I asked if I could please wear it to church?
I think infertility should qualify as a good reason to not have to go to mass on Mother's Day. Maybe I'll write the Pope.

(I'm fine now. Don't worry. I'm going to go move some dirt, plant some flowers, and rain death on some weeds.)

ps: I love you, Mom! I seriously considered composing a Mother's Day post around that fabulous picture of you, looking glamorous and nine months pregnant with me... in a string bikini... with your bellybutton popped out... but then I figured you wouldn't want that floating around on the internet. ;) But Internet, I want you to know: My mom is fabulous and glamorous, and she totally rocked a string bikini even while nine months pregnant with me. ;)

Proud Parent of Honor Roll Plants

2011-05-05T06:21:00.004-04:00

I've made my spring plants list
I checked it twice
I removed the plants who were naughty, not nice.

So this year, the newcomers to our Herb Garden will be:

1) Flat Leaf Parsley
2) Roman Chamomile
3) Kentucky Clonial Mint
4) Rosemary
5) Yarrow

I'm going to harvest and dry the Chamomile flowers for my tea, and Yarrow makes a good topical zit-fix. Rob requested the Parsley, Rosemary and Mint for cooking. After much debate on the invasive properties of mint, I landed on Martha Stewart's suggestion of corralling it with a bottomless pot:

credit

Actually, she suggested a "Terra Cotta chimney flue tile." I have no idea what that is. I chopped off the bottom of a nursery pot. :) We'll see. The very moment it steps out of line, it's toast. Or jelly for my toast? ;) It does smell very yummy, and it looks very sweet and innocent right now! I may need to consult with Jackson, my four-year-old friend who is an expert at the Plants vs. Zombies game.

Last year's Lemon Balm is already going bananas. Last year's baby Lavender has already sent up buds! I'm ridiculously overly excited about this. I may or may not have already started three conversations with, "MY LAVENDER IS GOING TO BLOOM!!!" I don't have children, I get to be proud of my plants, ok? ;) Here, let me pull out my wallet pictures of the buds on my daises! Or my lone Iris bloom!

After much research on "WHY AREN'T MY DAFFODILS BLOOMING???" Google informed me that old daffodils sometimes stop blooming because there are too many baby bulbs in the root system.

Fertile Overachievers. (mutter. mutter.)

Since we inherited the daffodils with the house, and they spring up in a straight line in the middle of our grass every year (the archeological remains of an old flower bed?), I decided to relocate them somewhere more logical. And not in the path of the lawnmower. I was thinking... there might be... 5 bulbs per clump? Um, no. Like 20 bulbs per clump. At least. It was insane. I had hundreds of bulbs on my hands. I'm about to run out of good places to plant daffodils. What a problem to have... ;) Maybe I'll have pretty pictures for you next spring!

Speaking of Fertile Overachievers... must! remember! to weed Azalea bed! more often!! That's a lot of weeds!

I've relocated some of our inherited lariope to the edges of this hilly Azalea bed in the hopes that it will help keep the mulch in the bed? If nothing else, it looks pretty!

At the nursery today, vegetables were on sale: $1.95/four pack. I wasn't going to buy any vegetables this year, but then... I really did want some pumpkins... and Rob wanted some peppers... so I bought one pack of each, and gave them a stern talking-to.

"Ok, Little Plants. Look, I'm not doing vegetables this year. I'm focusing on the projects I already have. So you're going to live in the remains of last year's mulch pile. That's good dirt. And it gets good sun. But I'm not dragging the hose out to baby you, so you'd better hope for rain. No whining. Are we clear?"

I'm guessing they're going to be a tasty treat for the deer, but we'll see. Not to jinx myself, but I haven't lost anything to wildlife yet! There... I've gone and done it, haven't I?

I'm working on a perennial flower bed plan. I fall asleep every night thinking of flowers. If I'm not doing anything in particular, I probably have my nose in a gardening book. I may have caught the gardening bug.

Pretty Trim!

2011-05-04T17:39:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I wonder if my neighbors think I'm weird for constantly traipsing out to the street to photograph my house. Meh, whatever. My house is fabulous. And if THEY had a before and after like this, THEY'D be taking pictures for the internet too!

THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE IS DONE!!! And therefore I'm officially done blogging about the trim (the entire world sighs in relief).
...Unless I fall off the ladder while finishing the back of the house. In which case there will be much whining. Anyways, without furthur ado...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I am totally, completely in love with this color. Painting the ugly blue trim makes such a huge difference in how I feel about our house. It's been done for 3 days now and I am still driving up our driveway at 0.5 mph. ;)

Curb appeal projects are, of course, not even close to being done. I'm a Cape Cod girl living in a Split Level, so there's much to overcome. ;) Those giant boxwoods that cover the lower windows may be relocated in favor of a cheerful perrineal flower bed. I've been demanding landscaping opinions of everyone who dares to set foot on my property. ;)

The State of My Uterus Address

2011-05-04T12:24:00.000-04:00

I like to keep Rob updated on my uterine happenings, so occasionally he gets emails from me while I'm at work.

Last week this email conversation transpired:

Sarah: Bleeding! Enthusiastically! On the first day! None of this lazy endless spotting! woot!
Rob: Yay, I think. Cheering about heavy bleeding seems weird, unless perhaps you're standing over your vanquished enemy. Do you feel that your uterus is your enemy? Haha, nevermind, I know the answer.

So we're on to The Very Exciting and Final Month Three of THE STUPID BIRTH CONTROL PILL!

So after months of this (pink is bleeding):

April looked more like THIS:

ONE DAY of spotting! ONE DAY!!!! It's like a miracle!! And while, yes, two months ago I was going to skip month three of the birth control pill if April looked like that, now that I'm at month three, I have to say I don't want to screw this up and do this again for three more months.

Llama-licious (part deux)

2011-05-02T20:28:00.000-04:00

Well... it was designed as a cliff-hanger, but I'm too much of a softie. I could never work in Hollywood. ;) Multiple people in both real life and the blog-o-sphere have asked for the end to the Llama story, so I'll oblige.

We left off here... Maddie vs. The Llama:

Unfortunately, two year olds are easily scared by sudden llama movements. The Llama stuck out it's tongue in a possibly vicious way... and we all immediately retreated to Starbucks for some Vanilla Milk.

Starbucks fixes everything. ;)

And everyone lived Happily Ever After.

The End. :)

Thrifty Finds

2011-04-30T20:53:00.002-04:00

My two favorite thrifty finds on Saturday were found for me by my thrifting buddies! Jessica pulled this brand-new, 100% silk, J. Crew dress out of the bins "Hey, do you need a black, J. Crew dress?"
*Gasp!*
Of course!
And the tags are still intact! Hello, $250 Whitney silk faille dress. I love you.

And my second favorite find was pulled from the bins by Laurel.
"Hey! Cool! An old camera!"
Sarah: "**GASP!!** THAT-IS-SO-COOL!!"
Laurel nonchalantly shrugged and handed it to me. I love you, Laurel!

I have no idea how to work this device, but I'm madly in love with my new

1967 Canon Auto Zoom 814 Super 8

If nothing else, it looks pretty as decoration!

On the boardwalk...

2011-04-28T21:59:00.000-04:00

I had the privilege of going though Rob's old family photo albums last weekend. My father-in-law brought me a gigantic box full of them to browse. I was looking for old family photos for the picture wall in the hall.

My favorite find of the weekend was this.
This is Rob's Great-Grandmother looking particularly fabulous on the beach.

...and when I scanned it in, I noticed the people in the background. Fortunately, my history teacher sister-in-law was hanging out with me so I could squeal at the coolness with someone who would appreciate it. :)

Look at those hats!

And I love this bad little boy's beanie cap:

I never would have noticed those people in the background if I hadn't scanned this one in.

My Grandfather Next Door

2011-04-27T21:11:00.000-04:00

At this point, my neighbor, Murthi walked over and frowned at me and Rob.

"I have a tall ladder you could borrow!" he said.

Rob explained that I was only on the roof to paint the little bit on the side that we couldn't get to with a ladder.

"Don't worry, Murthi! I've got good health insurance!" I said.

He did not seem reassured.

So now that I'm mostly finished standing on the roof and freaking out my neighbors... I'm tackling the sanding of the porch...

... which is a WHOLE LOT EASIER with my sister-in-law's belt sander. We're talking like 2 hours of work vs. 8 hours of work. I love you, Caroline! (Even if you feel the need to photographically document moments like this.)

That sander is really heavy. I would weigh it, but my scale is upstairs and my sander is downstairs and my arms are tired. I only have half an hour per day of motivation and/or arm strength, but with the belt sander, there's hope this project may be done by the end of this century. :)

I love Caroline. She is one talented lady. I mean... I have some very seriously bad hair in this picture, and that mask is pretty sexy... but isn't that a nicely framed photo?? ;)

I imagine that this is what a very sweaty person would look like if she fell in a giant pile of smurf cocaine:

Smurf cocaine. Everywhere. What will the neighbors think??
(The destruction of the blue paint may be getting to me.)

Best! Easter! Ever!

2011-04-26T19:40:00.000-04:00

I had the Best! Easter! Ever! with my family-in-law. And Caroline let me steal her photos to tell you all about it. :)

Quite possibly my favorite moment of the whole weekend was this...
Baby Joseph was playing on the couch with his Grandmom when he noticed me sitting on the floor. On a mission, he carefully Spidermanned himself down off of the couch, held onto the coffee table while toddling over to me, let go of the coffee table, and walked THREE STEPS to gave me a hug & a snuggle. Not surprisingly, he got many toys at Goodwill Outlet later that day. ;)

The poor baby boy was nearly devoured by his Aunts...

A booster seat for Aunt Sarah's house was acquired at Goodwill Outlet for FOUR dollars! :) Joseph will now demonstrate how sturdily attached to the chair it should be...

We had Joseph's First Easter Egg Hunt with the neighbor's grandkids. I invited them all over after the Easter Bunny visited our yard. Joseph was content with drooling red jellybeans all over his white Easter shirt. Murthi's grandkids had a grand time running all over the yard.

Family photos were taken. And they were short and sweet. Because Caroline is awesome like that. :)

Theresa, Caroline, and I blew out eggs and decorated them. Much snorting and giggling ensued over the farting egg blowing noises. Theresa decorated the Prettiest Easter Basket Cake!

Too much food was eaten, naps were taken, and it was just the best Easter ever.
Thank you for coming, guys! :)

The Encyclopedia of Hotness

2011-04-25T20:23:00.000-04:00

Is there anything hotter than your husband holding his sleeping baby nephew all the way through mass? Not minding the heavy, sweaty, drooling one year old through all the stand-up-sit-down-kneel calisthenics? And actually successfully, gracefully pulling off the kneeling at the altar for communion while holding the kid maneuver?
Yeah, pretty much no, there's not.
I looked it up in the Encyclopedia of Hotness.

Llama-licious

2011-04-20T19:41:00.000-04:00

It all started innocently enough...

a free petting zoo at the mall.

My niece, Maddie, was enjoying petting the baby goats...

and the bunnies,

and oh look! another goat!

...when she sensed the other children's general unrest.

One plaid-clad child was trying to climb into the pens!

Over the baby chickens, her comrades informed her... It Was The Llama.

They were forming a group to go after The Llama!

You see, The Llama looks like a normal llama,

but he is actually filled with candy bars and lollipops!

"Ok, guys! I'm in!" Maddie said, "but how do we get at the candy bars and lollipops???"

"Well..." the Devious Children replied, "We were thinking of offering you as a sacrifice to the llama."

Maddie's sister, Ellorie, looked concerned:

"Guys..." Maddie said, "I don't think my mom will go for that!"

"Don't worry! The children replied,

"If you go first, you can have dibs on the candy and lollipops!"

Ellorie, again, looked concerned.

But Maddie sized up The Llama... he didn't look so fierce!

"I can take him!" she thought.

And what happened when Maddie's Mom lifted Maddie up to get a closer look?

Well, that is a story for another day...

;)

Hurray for no HOA!!

2011-04-17T18:22:00.000-04:00

I've been feeling very grateful we live in a pre-HOA neighborhood... and that my neighbors apparently hated the blue (if it's possible) even more than we did.

example:

Murthi: "You picked such a nice color! That blue was hiding the true beauty of your house!"

Last Week:

This Morning:

(Thank you, Dogwoods for framing my house so nicely. Distraction! Distraction!)

Now:

Our house looks naked without shutters! So scandelous!!!

As awkward as this transition period is, those crazy hot pink azaleas will look A LOT better with taupe than robin's egg blue.

Maybe (just maybe) nicely painted trim will inspire me to acquire new mulch, tackle those weeds, and do something inspired and landscapey. We'll see. One project at a time. Poor neighbors. ;)

Lovely Green Inchworm

2011-04-15T20:27:00.000-04:00

I was driving home from work today and nothing good was on the radio so I turned it off. The sun was shining, it was a balmy 75 degrees, and there were puffy white clouds in the sky.

At a stop light, I noticed a tiny green inchworm doing it's funny crawl across my sideview mirror. He was pretty cute, so I kept an eye on him as the light turned green, and I slowly accelerated. The poor guy nearly fell off! My new little friend! I imagined cute worm guts splattered across an asphalt abyss. (!!) So I told Inchy to "Hang On!" And I pulled into a darling little elementary school.

I dropped Inchy off (with the help of an acquired leaf, because, obvs. Bugs are Gross and I'm a Girl!) on a delicious grassy knoll, wished him luck, and drove off. Back to pretending to be a normal adult.

S-S-S-Saturday Night!

2011-04-09T21:58:00.000-04:00

Just a totally normal way to spend a Saturday night...

It's looking good! The semi-symmetry is totally working!

Now just to get some pictures in these 28 thrifted frames!

If you give a Sarah a Camera...

2011-04-09T12:08:00.001-04:00

She'll probably want a pretty camera case.

Zippered camera cases are bothersome. I like snaps.

I'm slightly (desperately) in love with this camera case. Do we think it would be amazingly, fantastically awesome, or horribly, maddeningly annoying?

link

The bottom part screws into the tripod spot and stays attached to the camera, the top part can snap off or fold back.

It's not a very common case. It's a knock-off Canon case sold only on Amazon and Ebay, but it apparently fits the Canon S90 like a glove. There's only about 5 reviews on the entire internet for this case and I can't play with it in person. Four people liked it, one person felt lied to because it's not real leather. However, he did seem disgruntled with life in general and might have had PMS.

I totally dig the vintage look of the brown case and the semi-permanence seems reassuringly grippy, but the side snaps... I can't decide if that'd be annoying. Hard to tell without playing with it.

I bought an Ebay Groupon last week: "$7 for $15" so this case would be like $1 more than my Groupon.

The case that's more common is this one. It's real leather, actually made by Canon, and the interwebs loves it.

amazon.com

It's definitely not as cool looking, but it just snaps shut with a strong magnetic snap. Easy in and out.

photo by the wonderful, amazing "Not Martha"

It's more like $30... or an extra $15 with my Groupon.

So interwebs... the eternal question: Beauty or Function? Yeah, I think I know the answer too, but maybe just drool at the brown case with me for a little bit? ;)

Patchouli-tastic

2011-04-08T22:05:00.000-04:00

I have a strict thrifting rule: Never buy stuff just because it's cool. It must have a purpose & a place.
That's how I avoid being next on an episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive"
Well, and I really like giving stuff to Goodwill. Irony Bonus Points if I originally bought it at Goodwill. :)

Also, I'm opposed to intricate "vignettes". Sorry, blogosphere and decorators everywhere. Stacks of "Stuff" makes me a little itchy.

But I broke my rule last month. I bought this brass incense box at Goodwill Outlet. And I've never burned patchouli in my whole life, nor do I intend to start now. In fact, I have no idea what to do with this little box, but I've enjoyed watching it sit on my desk!

It was one of those things that called me from the bins.

"Hey Sarah!" it said,
"Remember your parents used to have a box like me in the sun room? I think it held matches!"
And so I said, "Ok, incense box. You're really lightweight. I'll bend the rules. You can come home with me."

Google told me this is called a cricket box.

Apparently you could hold a cricket or two hostage in here.

Poor cricket!

So, peeps. What should go in the incense box? Do you have a incense box? How do you feel about the morality of holding crickets hostage? Are you a patchouli-burning, sandal-wearing flatlander? What? That's a thing. More on that later.

Five Camels

Om...

Nom Nom Nom

Grapefruit and Cheeseburgers

I am a sewing MACHINE!

Nursery Progress

Baby Booty Bonanza: The Results

"Ladies"

Meet Katherine Isabella!

A Quiet Dinner Party?

Annoyingly Joyful

Samuel L. Jackson Day

Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit

Purposeful Acrobatics

Baby Booty Bonanza

The State of My Pants Address

Twinkle Toes

The Charlie Browniest

Pinecone Garland

Salt Dough Gift Tags

Must Stop the Keg Stands

The 80's were a long time ago

LubDubLubDub

The baby doesn't like enchiladas and other things of note

Fall Porch!

Snotty Humor

"Why"

The Other Happiest Place on Earth

"BABY"

Let's go play in the park!

The Story

Yup!

Dudes...

I Love Lamp

A Dollar Each?

On Thrifting Luck

Channeling Rapunzel

The Yellow Stenciled Hall

Pete (roar!)

Pop!

Water Balloon

A Swanky Nest

Hurriquake 2011

Projects a plenty!

A *Little* Poo

Sunflower

Something Fabulous

Grandfathers and Azalea Beds

Regarding Your Abysmal Geraniums...

How Appetizing!

Sputnik

$3.50 window box

Life Tree

My Creativity Mojo

O-Chem for Curls

Red, White, and Grayish-Brown

Expelliarmus!

The Obedience Training is Working

There, I fixed it!

and also, My Spleen has a Mustache

Husband as Deer Repellent?

Non-Microwaveable = Fancy

Worth it's Weight in Pennies

Manly Men Wear Hot Pink

Dirt and The Meaning of Life

Robbing the Cradle

Happily Wavy and Crazy

Wavy Hair Misadventures

I can tie my hair in a knot!

Acute Chocolate Deficiency

French Glass is possibly better than Oatmeal Container

Let the madness begin...

Geometric. Symmetrical. Slightly Girly.

Yellow and Blue

Salty Mocha Frappe, anyone?

Proud Parent of Honor Roll Plants

Pretty Trim!

The State of My Uterus Address

Llama-licious (part deux)

Thrifty Finds

A Little Poo