Long Time No See

Wow. Four months of motherhood so far. So I'm trying to get back into the ring.

Am I the only person who loves modern, steel structures? What is it about Danish design? It's amazing, modern, clean, and so fresh. I can imagine that eco friendly design on a lush green lawn. Wouldn't it be great to wait for your kids to get home from school so you can rummage through the garden to find something for dinner? 

The problem I worry about (okay there are several) the building would be in Northeast Iowa. So heavy snow loads, possibility of tornadoes, and would resale ever be an option? It would be on a farm owned by my in-laws but my husband has been wanting to move back to the farm pretty much since he left it over ten years ago. My husband would go back to being a fourth generation farmer. 

I grew up in the city and live in a rural area now on ten acres, but my husband is tired of working in an office. Eh. What is a girl to do? I told him if we move then we will be building a house. This house to be exact.

Okay so we'd use this house as a guide. I have always had a strange fascination with corrugated metal, and who knows that wood could be reclaimed lumber from a 200 year old barn. I think this would be absolutely amazing. Here's the link: http://www.jagerjanssen.nl/projecten/huis-dijk.  I want it.

A Different Kind of Post

Sorry if my blog seems to be all over the place, but like so many people trying to do this I'm trying to find my voice. I just wanted to talk about something that has helped me tremendously through my pregnancy.

My first OB appointment was a little nerve wracking. I felt like a bad mom already because I found out I was pregnant around 8 weeks. I went to my family practitioner doctor, but needed to find an OB. Well my first visit with him was at 11 weeks. Mind you this is my first baby, and I was both very nervous and excited. So, I went in and a nurse sat down with me to go over all of the forms and monthly appointments I would need.

I had turned in my first urine sample, and this nurse really let me have it. I guess I was dehydrated as it looked 'cloudy,' and she (whom I affectionately call the Nazi Nurse) told me how important it was to stay hydrated. She gave me all of the reasons with some of them being:

• As you get further along, you may be able to feel more if you're hydrated
• It will help your ligaments stretch and make it easier on your joints
• It will give you more energy
• You will have fewer urinary tract infections which could harm the baby
• You may have less general pain

So as you can see, that is quite an impressive list of benefits of drinking enough water. Almost all of the pregnant women I have known over the last couple of years have suffered from at least half of those ailments. When they tell me about them, the first question I ask is "How much water do you drink a day?" Usually the answer is a glass or two. I tell them it needs to be at least 8-10 and your urine should be clear (as in not cloudy). I'm always so surprised at how all of these moms tell me they have never heard that before. They may not have even been told to stay hydrated let alone the benefits.

Luckily I had that one very authoritative nurse at my first appointment, and even though she scared me it worked. I got the message, and I try to pass that message on to others to help their pregnancies be a little more comfortable.  

Wow Memory Lapse

I swore I have posted since the middle of December. I guess those pregnancy dreams are much more real than what I gave them credit for. Sure I've been crafting and doing projects, but my main goal has been getting ready for my baby. I'll be 36 weeks tomorrow so yea scary.

I have also been thinking about things we will not be able to do or things we'll have to alter because of our impending parenthood. Traveling and going out with friends isn't a problem, okay mostly because we're kind of boring people. We're homebodies no biggie.

However, there is a style of furniture I have been coveting for years. Mirror covered furniture. You know the fancy looking 20's inspired stuff. I'm sure it would be dirty enough just by my use, but could you imagine a 2 year old coming in and touching it because she can see her reflection all over it? Although you can't blame her.

So I have decided this type of furniture will have to wait until she's older, and I'll just have to make smaller mirrored pieces to hang on the wall or put on the dresser. So let's bow our heads and remember all of these beautiful pieces I could have in my house right now.

I love these and can't wait to have them. Who knows maybe I'll stick with more practical things. There is something about a beautiful mirror though. 



How much do you love these? Is it me or can you see peanut butter smeared all over these?

Alternatives to Special Occasion Glass Ornaments

Okay, I know people really like glass ornaments to commemorate special events. My mom was able to keep my Baby's First Christmas Ornament until a couple of years ago when it was dropped (by my sister no less) and shattered into a million little unrecognizable pieces). I was a little sad, but my mom was really sad. I have friends who have bought glass ornaments for their kids birthdays or for their first Christmas as a couple only to have them break at some point.

Please to alleviate this pain, go for an unbreakable ornament. Sure I ordered an "Our First Christmas" ornament with our names and wedding date engraved on it. We had only been married for a couple of months so we were still newlyweds. I went the pewter route. It's nice and heavy. It's nice to know it will always stay in one piece because I know it won't shatter. Next year for my daughter's first Christmas I may go the pewter route again.

Or we can try these:

• A small ornament made out of felt with embroidery or applique
• A wallet sized frame (yes they make those) or even a little wooden decorative piece you can buy from a craft store. Paint it and put a picture in it. 
• For a Baby's First Christmas ornament, you can take a Lovey and applique or stencil a Christmas tree on it

Can you think of ways to make special ornaments out of unbreakable objects? 

A Dresser for Baby

Well I'll be 32 weeks pregnant this week, and I am happy to say the nursery is well on it's way. I still have a lot to do like make a mobile for starters (but shhh we'll keep that to ourselves). This room is full of things from our wonderful family. The dresser for example is from my husband's grandpa.

This dresser needed a little work because the sides were bowed (which you can still see if you look at the space between the sides of the outside drawers and the frame). So we sanded it down, and I decided to paint it. I didn't mean for it to be a John Deere green (which my in-laws quickly pointed out. You have to understand they like pretty anything except for John Deere).

There was some funky, brass type drawer pulls in a ring style. I could see our little girl grabbing them and banging them against the drawer, so we decided to replace them with these simple pulls from Menards. Plus they were 70 cents a piece!

So, we sanded the outside frame so it would be flush with the top of the dresser, and I sanded between the drawers because they were sticking. I then used two coats of primer and four coats of the green paint. I wanted a really deep color with this green so I went with the four coats. That may sound like a lot, but I was actually able to use just the 'sample' size from Sherwin Williams for about $5. Yup, a free dresser, a can of primer I already had, and a $5 container from Sherwin Williams. They're samples by the way are pretty big. They're much bigger than the ones you get from Lowes or Home Depot. Plus they're in a plastic container with a handle and twist lid. So if you're kind of a lazy painter/crafter like I am, you don't need one of those prying can lids things or a hammer to close it. Hooray!

This dresser is also doubling as my changing table, and I think I'm going to build some little window box like shelves to go above it for cloth diaper storage. Yup, cloth diapers, but that's a whole other post.

Picture frame turned message board

So, I made this a while back and couldn't figure out why I haven't posted it. I picked this out at work (don't worry they were giving them away). It's actually a mugshot of a prisoner from Leavenworth Penitentiary. I was going to hang it above our guest bed, but my husband's sense of humor can be pretty different from mine.

So, since we have a baby on the way, and I didn't want to just hang a tacky calendar there I decided to turn this into a ribbon message board/chalkboard. It was a pretty cheap metal frame (also not square) so I didn't feel like I was ruining any piece of great artwork.

There was already a nail there (from the aforementioned tacky calendar) so I hung the picture vertically to see if it would fit. Who knew it was exactly the size I pictured in my head. So, I clapped my hands, did my happy dance and then proceeded to take the frame apart.

I didn't have any cork board at the time (and when I have a project in mind, I want to start right now and finish it in the next half hour). First I measured and divided the frame in half so I would have to even pieces of board. So, the backing of the frame was actually foam board, so I cut a piece of thin cotton batting and then a plain piece of white fabric to fit the top half of the board and then taped them to the back using painters tape.

I had this big ol' chalkboard I had spray painted a long time ago. It was just the backing to a big poster frame I used for another project. So, I had my husband cut a piece to fit the bottom half of the foam board on his table saw. This is thin material, and I'm sure you could use a hand saw or a jigsaw if you had it. I didn't glue down the chalkboard, I just kind of set it there.

The ribbon is just black quilt binding. I know this thing looks kind of boring, but I knew I would have different shapes and colors of notes and messages on there. Plus I just didn't want it to stand out. I just laid the binding over the top half of the board from corner to corner and left about a half an inch extra on each side then cut. I did the same for the opposite corners to make an 'X.' I did the same with the other pieces (to make a diamond through the X). You can do any shape with the ribbon.

You can also use push pins or buttons and cover them with fabric or paint them to put where your ribbon pieces cross. I didn't bother (not until my daughter is old enough to start wanting to play with it and then maybe I'll have to make it more secure).

I reassembled the frame and had to use a bench scraper to tuck the ribbon pieces tightly into the frame. That was it. Oh, and I decided to put the chalk board on the bottom half of the frame because when you go to write or erase the chalkboard the messy stuff won't fall onto your ribbon board. See I actually put some thought into this!

Make one and send pictures! I found a large ribbon board and my parents house I'm going to recover and hang in my daughter's room. So, more pictures to come!

Sorry to Keep You Waiting

You know, I had no idea I would feel overwhelmed at starting a blog. I realized I should just share what is going on in my life (rather what goes on in my head). So, there are a couple of things. I'm creating an Etsy shop where I'm going to make baby things. Secondly, I'm 29 weeks pregnant, so sorry if you're not interested in baby stuff right now. Third, I realized I need another creative outlet (okay a therapeutic journal where people can comment on the things I do).

Sound good?

First of all, awesome deals. Since Black Friday (and oh yea Thanksgiving) is in a few short days I wanted to help everyone with gifts and/or just awesome things they've been waiting to buy.

1. Amazon.com- If you have not tried Amazon, I urge you to go there. They have Daily Deals, Lightning Deal, and all kinds of other deals. Their Black Friday deals are going on all week, and they do have themes at least part of the time. So, check it out. You'll never know what you'll find. http://www.amazon.com/

2. I've been telling people about this lately because why should I keep it to myself. Let's face it, there's only so much room in my kitchen for small appliances. Kitchenaid.com. Yes, they have a website where you can actually buy stuff. There is an Outlet site where they sell overstock, refurbished, and just fund ol' weekly deals. Here's their site:: http://shopkitchenaid.com/category.asp?CAT=OUTLET&siteReferrer=kitchenaid&.

3. I would suggest if you're not already on a mailing list for your favorite store sites, sign up now. I can't tell you how many coupon codes and Black Friday deals I've received in the last two days.

Don't be overwhelmed. This Black Friday thing can be really great as long as you don't get sucked into feeling like you have to buy one of everything. It helps me if I pick out a couple of my top things like a camcorder and cloth diapers for example. That helps me narrow down the stores I'm looking at.

Do you have any great websites or stores you've been watching for a while now? Share with us. Happy shopping everyone!