Happenings around here

I've realized that I need to make things.  I'm not the most terribly creative person---most of the things I make have been seen on pinterest or are less fussy versions of Martha Stewart crafts;  but when I haven't made in awhile, I get grumpy.  Then I have an idea and spend a few hours working fast and furious on my work table in the basement and I feel much better. 

When I feel better, I don't necessarily finish my projects.  The making is the part I enjoy, not necessarily the item itself. 

Anyhow, I promise I've been making over here, it's just that many things don't get finished or aren't really a *supercool* finished project. 

One not-so-cool-finished-project big(ish) thing we just did was put a new vent on our bathroom fan.  That means we drilled a hole in our roof.  I wish I could have been on the roof but I usually get stuck on the ground with the baby.  OH and that *slight fear of heights that makes me wobbly* thing.  I feel much better knowing that our steamy bathroom air is actually LEAVING the house instead of accumulating in our attic.

We (my husband and brother in law) finally eliminated the cords running to the television and my tech-savvy husband has computer downstairs hooked up to the television with a wireless mouse and keyboard.  Be jealous!

I made some birthday decorations for my favorite sister.  I might share here but they didn't turn out to be my most proud project so maybe I'll have to tweak my method before sharing. 

I also painted a wall.  Remember all the beige and brown we inherited with our house???  Well that brown accent wall in the dining room was killing me...painfully and slowly...  Lavinia in the film classic The Banger Sisters when she proclaims that she looks like the department of motor vehicles. So I painted it a lovely dark blue.  I haven't put the curtains back up because, guess what, they're beige.  So I'm on the hunt for extremely thrifty gray patterned curtains. 

Ooh pretty blue

Next up will be these two light green walls in the living room, but I'm paralyzed as to what color to paint them.  I would love white white white everywhere but the off-white on all our living area walls isn't that bad, and I think Dillon would hate such a stark white space. 

From http://www.designforrenters.com/2013/04/mood-board-industrial-comfort-family.html

This is the style I'm going for; when I decorated the nursery it helped to have some colors picked out so I was able to make it look coordinated easily by comparing things to the ideal I had in my head.  I know, there is green on the mood board but NOT THE RIGHT GREEN.  We have a green couch that won't last forever but needs to stay for a couple of years so the walls need to coordinate with that for the time being also.  Can you see the light-green wall?

Bonus picture of our cable-less TV!

See the green on the "beam" going across and the wall with the TV?  YUCKY!

So now, what color should I paint the light green?  Seriously, advice!

Another Secret Dress

HI ALL!  Sorry I've been absent for a bit, I'll catch up sometime.  I keep taking "blog pictures" but they never seem to make it off my phone.

Do you all remember when I told you my biggest secret?  I bared my soul here on the internet?  My huge secret that I had kept, even from my husband, for several years?

Go ahead, I'll wait....




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Basically, I've been saving and making and creating things for future kiddos for a long long time.  Before I was pregnant, I had purchased furniture knowing it would be good for a changing table, I'd decorated using the colors for our nursery (decorations that someday would get moved there), I'd sewed major projects for non-existant kids.  Phew.  Feels good to let go of that secret.

Well I'm at it again.  We have a TON of friends who are pregnant; seriously, it's everywhere.  (Side note: I think I'll make a blog post of what worked well when I was preggo so that I can stop forcing my opinion on these poor pregnant ladies in my life.  I keep having to bite my tongue so maybe if I write it here I won't have such an urge???)

So I have been making a few things for said pregnant friends and I figured that while I was at it, I would whip out another tiny dress for future babies.  Now, I'm not pregnant so just calm yourself down. Also, don't get all "Oh she wants a GIRL" on me either.  I think boys are fun!   I just like to sew baby things, and dresses are easy and cute, and boys generally don't wear dresses.  Find me a cute boy sewing pattern and I'll give that a go, it's just that those patterns are harder to come by. 

If we don't have any more kids or if we don't have a girl, I'll pass this (and all the other dresses I've made) along to a cute friend! 

THIS is the dress. Well, it's the dress with very different fabric, buttons instead of a zipper, contrasting trim at the neck, and shorter length sleeves (whoopsie!)

Notice the perfect little gather at the front and the WOWTHATSIMPRESSIVE skinny trim along the neck. 

Auditioning buttons, I think I need to go pick up some small navy ones.  Maybe in a girly flower shape

It sewed up quickly and looks adorable!  I love when I can use fabric from my stash (although it calls for 3/4 yard and I think it needs a full yard.  That's how I got 3/4 length sleeves).  I'm glad to be done with it though, as sitting in my basement during naptime is NOT the best use of our spring weather!

So it'll be hanging in the closet for awhile and I can look at it whenever I want.  I know, I'm a strange lady.

I see all these cute craft rooms online.  Please tell me I'm not the only one who sews in a basement (this is the most brightly lit area of the basement) next to wood and brooms.  Just keepin it real!

10 Months!

You are so much fun right now!  You love to laugh and do a lot of it after dinner when we are playing together as a family. This month was a big month, I think, as you said your first real word, "Mama" as clear as day.  You took your first unassisted step the last day of your 9th month - ha!  I had been really rooting for you to do it before you turned 10 months and at a time when your Dad was home to witness it, and you did just that.

You've been playing a lot more independently recently and it's wonderful.  When you play in the kitchen while I cook; there is always a lot of pots and pans and measuring spoons for me to avoid on the floor.

Just recently you became interested in putting things "in", instead of always taking things out (of drawers, baskets, etc), you started stacking blocks instead of just knocking them down, and putting things together instead of pure destruction.  How refreshing! 

 

Week 40

Week 41

Week 42

Week 43