Calvin has arrived

Calvin has moved up in the world. Lots of "little" big changes. Starting with...

A new bike!

When I first saw the bike I had to suppress a smirk. It was tiiiiiiiny. "There is no way Calvin is going to fit on that twerpy thing", I thought.

Of course, the joke was on me, as this fidget-bike practically dwarfed my small boy. Major optical illusion or something.

Calvin demands very little in life, so we were very surprised when he pleaded for a McQueen helmet. I caved, and purchased this "character" apparel. What is next? Squeaky sneakers that light up? I should not be so scornful. Before kids, I would not have imagined watching Barney. But I will freely and unabashedly proclaim that the purple dinosaur has frequented our home on numerous occasions.

The next HUGE development for Calvin was a real BED!!!

John and Calvin had been plotting for months on making this big transition. Age 3 came and went without a new bed. Why? I am lazy and was content to let Calvin sleep in his toddler/converter crib til he was in high school.

Around 2 months ago, John came home with a twin mattress set for Calvin. It was pretty thrilling for the boys. But, there it sat, without a proper frame or comforter, for another month or so. Friends wanted to see the boys' room and I felt sorry for Calvin, that his bed looked so shabby.

And Finn would comment, "Calvin's bed needs some wood". Every day, Finn would pile his animals onto his headboard, like so.

And it wasn't long before Calvin was requesting some wood for his animals too.

And then John started hounding me too. I wasn't sure how to make this happen. When you are on a strict budget, it forces you to become very resourceful. So I gathered up a lot of my antique tins and bowls that I no longer needed and carted them off to an antique store, to trade in toward payment of the bed frame.

I originally thought I'd paint it black to match Finny's. But I cannot bring myself to destroy this perfectly lovely natural distressed finish.



Nope, I just cannot do it.

Needless to say, we are all THRILLED with Calvin's new bed. Finn noticed that Calvin's bed was a few inches taller than his:)

And finally, there is a new stuffed critter in Calvin's arms these days. Say hello to replacement kitty. 

Ollie kept meowing for Calvin's old orange kitty, so we did a little switcheroo.

I couldn't be happier for my dear 3-year old boy.

Dear Blog,

I know, I know. I've been a bit of a slacker lately. Been very busy lately.

You know, gearing up for the impending arrival of the "baloney loaf" as my father calls it. Just 9 weeks! Eeeek!

So, I have already purchased diapers, bought new onesies, cleaned old clothes, got the bassinet down, got the infant carrier down, packed my hospital bags and decorated the baby's room.

Um, that would be false! I have actually done NONE of the above things. I've done zilcho to prepare for the baby. Nonetheless, I am still on a mission.

MUST THROW AWAY ALL CLUTTER.

John said that he strategically timed our latest garage sale to exactly coincide with my propensity to get rid of everything, 2/3 of the way into the pregnancy.

"Really", I questioned him, " I do that?"

"Yep", he said. "Every single time."

He is dead-on right. I cannot believe he was observant enough to note this little quirk of mine.

And sure enough, it was a big factor in the smashing success of our latest garage sale. We pretty much sold everything but the kitchen sink.

Which is fabulous in my estimation, but not so wonderful if you were attached to a certain couch or chair in my living room...or bed in my guestroom. Oops.

Moving on.

So, my living room is now sparse at best. John gave me a good chunk of the proceeds to "fix" it. He really had to twist my arm on that one--"alright already, I'll buy something!" John does not thrive on my cluttered state of being. I'm the messy one and he's the neat freak. We've been likened to Dharma & Greg in that respect.

As a result, there may or may not be a piece of furniture from Craig's list sitting in my parlor, involving yummy tufted velvet.

No more peeking.

I am feeling very sneaksy and covert right now. You will just have to trust me on this one...

Ok, back to embroidering. I'm working on some shirt orders. Hopefully I can soon post some photos of the latest and greatest in the life and times of Calvin.

this guy

Sometimes I wonder how I get anything done. I'm pathetic whilst pregnant, believe me. If I do too much, I get overwhelmed and the tight braxton-hicks start kicking in. Or my sinuses start acting up. So really, how do I get anything done? Then I remember. There's this guy who lives with us, who does the following.

1)Grocery shops for us at Winco, because I am too *weak sauce* to tackle such a huge store.

2)Plans the dinner calender and posts it on our mac calender. Oh and he cooks a lot too.

3) Bathes the boys.

4)Changes Ollie's dirty diapers so I don't have to wretch(this gagging gene is inherited. My sister has it too, as does my cousin Jared, so I hear).

5)Cleans kitchen floors, vacuums, and helps with laundry.

6) Watches the boys while I shop, go out to coffee or sew.

7)Mows the law, repairs the home and manages our budget.

8) Does the gritty work, like getting our stuff ready for our garage sale.

How cute is he? He made 2 racks for our clothes that we are selling.

Hey, is that my feather tree you are trying to sell?

I said I was selling anything that wasn't nailed down...but my poor feather tree? I am allowed to keep the proceeds of any decoration we sell!

So I know I do a lot too, but honestly I wouldn't get half of it done without this guy.

Thanks for all you do honey!

i will mock no more

So I used to mock Valentine's Day (ahem just last year), thinking it was too forced and commercial, blah, blah, blah. I'm certainly not trying to be political here, but really, no one is putting a gun to anyone's head, forcing them to buy chocolate. And if there ever was a holiday reserved just for chocolate, this pregnant lady would be ALL OVER IT. I polished off half a pan of brownies just for the occasion.

And I am certainly not going to complain about a special delivery of ORANGE roses!!!





They match my curtains! I think I may need to plant an orange rose bush this spring, just to have orange roses at my table every day.

When the roses arrived, Finn started skipping around the house in complete excitement saying, "Daddy is being so nice to you". I think that was the best part...seeing Finn so jazzed for me.

He immediately appointed himself as cupid and began making John a lovely thank you/Valentine's Day card, on my behalf. Complete with a heart postage stamp.

This got me thinking...hm, what other taxing, mundane tasks could I pawn off on my eager unsuspecting 5 year old? I could really be onto something. If you get a card in the mail written a la crayola, don't be too surprised.

Finn then proceeded to make a bazillion other "Valentims" for me.

I actually really liked his artistic rendering of the tree, and have already enlisted his help in making a small picture to be framed for my front living room.

And little GeGe made me a Valentine too.

The black is mud, not a coffin, LOL.

This other Valentine Finn made requires a little explaining. Calvin got this booklet as a Valentine gift at Cubbies(from the kid of a dentist I presume), and so Finn and I did our first word search together the other day.

Since it was a Valentine gift(though an odd one), it may help explain Finn's next card:

He told me it was a word search, and that I had to circle the letters in the words "Davi" and "Finn". Hehe, I think he kind of missed the point of the word search--it was more of a letter search-- but I thought it was cute.

Finn also drew me this little maze.

When I complained that it was too easy, he quickly went to work on plan B.

I will keep my mouth shut next time.

And to make this Valentine's Day the best day ever, John made us all breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yah, I'm NEVER gonna complain about VDay ever again.

Oliver and the Shed

Starting with the Curious Case of Oliver Boliver...

Ollie is a climber and hence does not sleep in a crib. He's been sentenced to the pack&play for now. During the middle of the night(3am) Ollie likes to burrow and dig under his mattress, where he snuggles in, dangling amongst the metal bars.

Only to awaken moments later, screaming indignantly that his comfy bunker is hurting him.

After 5 nights straight, we finally wised up to his shenanigans and tightly velcroed his mattress down.

We applauded ourselves for being so smart.

Only to be awoken the next night, to Ollie screaming and furiously trying to dig his way under the mattress, to no avail. Why are you doing this, Ollie? Why?

I am tired. But, we are not ready for his toddler bed. We have tried, and failed.

I have no photographic evidence of Ollie's midnight escapades, as it is not my custom to carry around my camera in the middle of the night. However, I did follow him around the backyard today, snapping pictures, because I LOVE THIS KID SO DARN MUCH. 100% mama's boy and I am loving it:)



and yes, we are trying out a new hairdo.

and the hair is now flat, but munch munch on those cheeks.

And in case you are wondering about the barn-like background structure--it is our almost-finished-shed-that-will-never-be-finished(hint, hint John and Dad).

if i only had a brain

burnt rice krispie treats

ruined INSTANT oatmeal

driving at night with the headlights off(don't worry mom, I will not let that happen again)

yep, I'm 25 weeks along with no brain in sight.


oh wait, if you tilt the camera up a smidge, then maybe you can see my head(does anyone else frequently resemble a zombie-like Stepford wife in these self shots?)

I just got my *hairs did* by Jillian(Lorie's soon-to-be-sis-in-law). I love Jillian!

I must confess, my vanity got the best of me when I realized I looked like a WHALE in this particular green shirt set.


From here on out, it will be dark colored tops for this girl!


And how on earth does one take a self-portrait without their head being chopped off? It is a mystery to me.

say hello to my new diggs

At last! I finally got around to posting photos of my new abode.

A long time ago, I mentioned that John gave me a portion of the pool-table money to fill the void upon its passing. Since I could not find a craft table, I used the money redecorate instead.

Ellie suggested repainting the walls, buying some new curtains and rearranging the furniture. "Yah, right", I thought to myself. "It's gonna take a lot more than that." But, she was right! The whole project was waaaay cheaper and required a lot less items than I thought. On the flip side, it required a lot more time than I imagined, because I stink at picking out paint. Really stink. But my paint allergies/sinus issues flared up and so we quickly settled on a gray that I am happy with.

During the whole painting marathon, I was also busy searching for new curtain fabric(remember the blue stuff that I ended up hating?). I searched high and low for fabric that would add some sizzle to my boring great room. I had to be careful though, because I needed 7 panels(goodness me-oh-my) and anything too wild would make me dizzy.

I really wanted fabric that was solid on top and had a pattern creeping up the bottom, to the middle of the panel. I miraculously stumbled across the exact curtains I was looking for at Urban Outfitters.com. And they were on clearance too! I could barely have made them for a cheaper price($18/panel).

In essence, it all started with the curtains...

and a chair...

AKA the merry-go-round. It swivels and rocks, so the boys love to spin round and round and round.

Everything else took off from there. The only other major purchase I made was this vinyl bird decal from etsy. ($15)

Since the dawning of time, this wall cut-out has plagued me. Nothing seemed to fit it properly and I have been tempted many times to just fill it in with dry wall. I was ecstatic when I discovered that this wee little warbler finally found the perfect home in my wall.

Speaking of birds, here is my warbler pillow, made from grey velvet($5/yard) and mustard pom-poms($2/yard)...

This pillow was my first attempt at a zipper. I have always been askeered of zippers. My friend Natasha was kind enough to teach me the secret ways of the zipper. I now am obsessed with zippers.

And this other pillow almost inspired a post entitled "When Bad Things Happen to Good Owls". (Trim also $2/yard).

Within 24 hours of its inaugural appearance on my couch, someone spilled pen ink all over it while grading papers. He tried desperately to get the stain out before his missus got home, but to no avail. When she arrived home, she quickly called her super-sister Jessica, who rescued the pillow from certain demise. The trick? Aerosol hair-spray. Lots of it. Rinse and Repeat. Thanks Jessica! Your quick wit saved a certain sister's marriage:)

The owl perches happily-ever-after amongst its new habitat. And thanks Lorie, for the idea to embroider the inner eyes of the owl in orange. Good call!

The frame that once was blue and now is lovely putrid green.

And I purchased the huge orange candle + tray for just $3 at an antique store.

And who needs pricey Anthropologie knobs when you can make your own?

I found these vintage metal knobs at my antique store for a mere 50 cents each--compare to the $6-$12 Anthro ones. Seriously I think I got a high when she said $2 for all 4 knobs:)

And I cannot forget my chandelier. It used to hang over the pool table. It looked ridiculous hanging over the drums. So we moved it. Why, oh why, did it take me so long to figure that one out?

Meet the drum area.

Everything on the above shelf was old stuff I just rearranged.

We(John) painted the kitchen back-splash in a shade of mustard yellow.

This is where we eat.

Thanks so much for popping by.

Come again, you hear?