Caffeine

My doc says that I can have two servings of caffeine a day which means two cups of coffee or one diet coke (really all the variety I would drink otherwise). This was all well and good when I was dying of thirst and drinking water like a camel, but I have not been nearly as thirsty lately and therefore my attention has turned to diet coke. Seriously, could it be more distracting? It might not help that I have a coworker who drinks 3-4 cans a day, or that the sound of a pop can makes my mouth water.

I do really enjoy coffee also, so the problem comes down to which one I have each day. Since its one or the other, it gets to be a hard choice. My current attempt at fixing this is the purchase of a twelve pack of caffeine free diet coke. It does wonders!! We'll see how long it "fills the need" since its not the real deal.

And today, I got a coffee from Caribou (favorite coffee place. ever). Here's the thing though - I ALWAYS get the white chocolate mocha, medium, with skim milk. Always. But then my seester got plain coffee with sugar and cream, and it was delicious (not to mention half the price). So I ventured out on my own and confidently  sheepishly ordered a plain coffee, hoping I could make the magic happen with the right combo of sugar and half/half.

IT WORKED. And I loved it! Goodbye $4.50 drinks, hello $2 drinks!

Baby steps people. You can't expect me to just love plain black coffee right away right?

So creamed coffee, caffeine-free diet coke, some water thrown in there.... no wonder I am using the restroom every half hour.

:)

Gotta love random posts!

Weekend Update

• My feet didn't get as swollen all week. Huge deal. I am not sure if I was unconsciously sitting more at work, drinking more water, wearing better shoes (don't think so... only have a couple of options!) or a combination of all. Either way, I am super thankful for this.
• I have now painted the baby room letters 2-3 times and they are just starting to look like something worth hanging up. Boring solid colors for now, hopefully add detail later. At this rate, I might get done... they day before the baby gets here. Yikes. I didn't realize I would need so many layers!
• Went to Target with my sister, spent over $75. Why is it so hard to spend less than $50? I don't think I've ever left Target without spending $50 or more. Target- you are not good for my pocketbook.
• Got to see sister's new apartment. She'll be living pretty nice in a brand new apartment, vaulted ceiling, her own bathroom! Best part is that she is only 5 min away from me! Or .6 miles away if you are planning on a nice jog or bike ride (which will most definitely take place this summer).
• There's talk of practice for a praise band in our church if I can get the youth group kids motivated. I cannot tell you how motivating this is for me since music is kind of my thing and these kids are king of my other thing. To combine the two would really be awesome. We have a potential drummer, guitarist (or two?), violinist (two for sure), and me on the piano for now. I'm not worried about singers at the time, so this could really happen! Anybody know of a young bass player? We could always do the bass line on the keyboard but you all know (or should know) that you can't replace a real bass.
• I'm getting super antsy for spring. Like dressing inappropriately kind of antsy. Don't get the wrong idea, nothing ridiculous. I just can't justify putting on a parka and boots when in my head spring is just about here! I'm ready for flip flops, sunglasses, sunburns (only a little please), no coats, and capris.
• Buckley has also caught the antsy bug. His amount of energy continues to astonish me... and he needs a walk. But I am not really feeling walking around on the ice outside. So he gets to wait. One more reason why spring needs to get here faster...
• I finished season two of "Dexter". What is it about this fictional character that makes me root for a serial killer?? Luckily, a coworker of mine is going to borrow me season 3 so we don't have to wait for Netflix to catch up and put it on their instant shows to watch.
• I worked on Saturday and got McDonald's for myself and a few other coworkers. Let me just tell you. If you have to work an extra shift, it needs to be wonderful. And this was a great start. Sometimes I just really like working on Saturdays. To my boss, who reads this: No thanks, one once in a while is enough for me :)
• I bought a new nail polish (my first OPI) and it is called Chihuahua bites. Yep -reddish/pinkish/orange piece of springlike heaven on my fingertips. I'm in love. It better last for a could week or so before I have to remove it. Thats my pet peave with nail polish... you get it perfect and it chips and looks stupid after just a day or two. Doesn't seem worth it in the long run but I just need  any reminder that spring is almost here that I can get. Because when I look outside - I'm not seeing spring!!
• Still ready for this baby to get here... Is it June yet?

Josephine is 9 long letters. Didn't realize that when we picked it!

Remember how I said I was going to go crafts shopping? Oh I did, and it was grand. A little overwhelming, but grand nonetheless. I started out at Hobby Lobby (love that place) but the randomness and overwhelming amounts of everything did not help me out when I was looking for specific things. I could walk around in that store for hours and not get bored. Every time I turn the corner, something new and "perfect" for me. ahhhhh....

So, on to JoAnn's. My experience there consisted of walking back and forth between the sewing section and then painting section. I'd get to one side, realize I forgot something on the other, think of a "great idea'' for a different project and rush over to the other, etc. Good grief. Talk about exercise. This is what I came home with:

Yes you see that correctly. I have some work to do on those letters! I can hardly wait... but am also nervous that I'll screw them up. They were $1.29 or something each, so I can just go get a new one, but I find that with painting, I usually do awesome the first time or two, and then slowly decline as I get too huge of an ego. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I seriously just get worse and worse as I try harder. Taking a class for actual technique or something may help but I have no idea where I could do that for cheap or where I'd find the time. I'll add that to my "to do" list, and for now just continue to float along with my limited ability. I'll keep you updated on this lovely project once I get the nerve to jump in!



Yep, these brushes should only add to the fun!



Like the colors?   



I know, random. But I didn't have one til now...

                                                  



 

Are you wondering what these are for? Don't peak ahead, but I made some lovely ribbon bows for the curtain. I won't lie, I stabbed myself in the finger way too many times, and wanted to throw my hands up in the air at least 3 times. But I like the end result! Velcro in the back so I don't have to retie the bows. What do you think??

 I feel like a creep always takig pictures of the neighbor's house..luckily I've never actually seen anyone in there looking back! That would be ... awkward.




Front



Back



I work tomorrow morning and will be doing some painting in the afternoon. Looking forward to a McDonald's iced vanilla sugar free coffee in the A.M. and some serious creativity in the P.M.

I'm nervous already...

Arts and Crafts

Warning: This post contains many random thoughts and brainstorming. You've been warned.

Mike made the comment the other day that my style is "arts and crafts". I wouldn't go so far to say that this is true for every room of the house, but for the nursery, I would have to say that yes, I can agree with that. So much so, that I am finding  myself spending hours and hours pouring through arts and crafts websites trying to figure out what my next project will be. I just had so much fun with the curtains so I figure, why stop there?

Here's what I am thinking. I know I want to do letters on the wall, whether they are hanging on a string or scattered across the wall, I'm not sure. Maybe something like this:

found here
or
 found here
or
found here

So  many different directions! SO I am thinking I will make them myself. Cheaper, more room for personalization, and may even fill my "creative" funk fix. :)

Another thing that I was thinking: Since the wall decal and curtains are so busy, I don't want to overdo it. The bedding is something that will be changed frequently since children grow (shocking, right?) so I have thought I would do just a solid color for the sheet and then whatever blanket we get/use at the time. I found a website that shows a way to make the fitted sheet that seems super easy. This way I can make numerous fitted sheets in different colors. Pink, green, blue, even brown! So exciting, I know. I cannot tell you how exciting it is for me to have so many practical options even when laundry must be done. And talk about cheaper! So. I'll keep you up to date with that project. It might be a total disaster,but we'll see.

I need to find the right shade of pink. I am hoping to find a lamp that will have a white base (well I found this at Target already, but no shade yet) and a solid pink shade. Simple, small, and cheap.

Still working on the rug, although I did get one suggestion to go with a brown rug. I hadn't thought of that before and honestly I kind of like it. I wasn't planning on having brown be a major color in the room, but it would definitely be pretty neutral and blend in well since the tree is primarily brown and the color works well with green and blue (and this mysterious pink I keep hoping to find).

See how my head is spinning with ideas? So today I will be hoping to get started on at least one of these projects just to ease my  mind a bit. I'll keep you updated!

PS. can you tell this is my day off? Glorious. No time to waste!

Ta da!

I really amazed myself this time! I guess its true that if you are really determined, you can accomplish anything. I didn't even get mad at the sewing machine even though every time I use it my patience is maxed out. Maybe if I used it more often I would actually remember how to use it..?


Note: I really need to learn how to use my camera to my advantage. The lighting is awful and you can't tell how truly fabulous this looks from the pictures. My apologies.

So here they are! Josie's curtains.

 We'll have to find a way to fasten them to the sides so we don't minimize the lighting. I'm thinking velcro wth a lttle blue bow but we'll see.

We made the rod be a lot wider than the window so the thick curtains wouldn't completely take over the window. Plus it just makes the window look better. I like it now that is done!

Ahh, that looks better. I guess the camera can't capture the detail that makes the curtains so wonderful. But at least up close its easier to tell!

We left extra fabric on top so there would be  more of a "ruffle" effect.

So what do you think? You really have to use your imagination at this point since we are missing so many things. Picture a white crib, pink lamp, window trim, round rug (color to be determined, any ideas?) and so on. 3 months left to get this room ready!



Well I finally feel like I have enough to write about to sit down and blog. I apologize for the lack of posts, but I find that as I blog more, I think in blog mode and have more to write about in general. But then if I stop for whatever reason, it seems completely impossibe to pick it up again. I'm working on it, promise.

Here is your promised 27 week photo. Tuesday will be 28 weeks - 7 months. It snuck up on me, although really I still have a solid three months left.

I went shopping today with my mother dearest. She likes to spoil me a bit and purchased some cute dresses and a sweater to go over (have to be work appropriate...). Its a start for warmer weather clothing, but it is hard to buy more clothes that I won't be able to wear once Josie is here. Hopefully I'll be able to make the current wardrobe work. That or I can hit up a thrift store, although I don't have much faith in that since I'm such a weird size (not the biggest but definitely not small).

And the best part of my morning - the mailman personally hand delivered the fabric I ordered from Joann's fabric. Good thing that my mom was here to set me up with the sewing machine and pins!! Did you really think that I would just set it aside? Of course not. I am about 1/3 done... hopefully will be done tomorrow. Maybe some pictures after? If you're lucky.

So this is the fabric. The top part, with the leaves, is the front. Wonderful. Once you see the wall decal you'll understand how truly perfect it is. The bottom half is the back side, but is almost just as cute if you ask me.

AND THEN. Josie got her first gift!! My friend Katie came over and completely outdid herself with her lovely gifts. Now that I have the stroller in my possession, I believe I made the right choice. I didn't want to get the big bulky stroller that the carseat fits in, since we have the runner stroller already. Two big strollers=no room in the garage. I just feel like the smaller stroller that folds up so nicely will work just as well and be a bit less in your face.

And how can you resist the cute little outfits?? I cannot even stand it! She needs to hurry up and get here (but not before she's ready of course!)

More later! Goodnight fellow bloggers. :)

Healthy as a horse

Alas, no photo this week, but I must tell you the exciting news that I received in the mail today.

I don't have gestational diebetes! I kind of freaked myself out thinking that I had it b/c of how much sugar I had been inhaling, but this is also why I am not a doctor. Clearly, that is now how it works.

I will soon be posting pictures of the wall decal that we received in the mail and put up. I'm not quite done (and by I'm I mean Mike), so you'll just have to wait until we get the little blue birds up, which could be anytime in the next three months. Sorry people... I want  you to see the finished project before you judge!

My sister and I went shopping for material to make (yep, make!!) curtains, and we happened to find the perfect material that was a whopping $80 total. I was and still am very proud of myself for not impulse buying and instead finding it online and getting it for 50% off.  Yep, long story very short - my online shopping actually paid off and I didn't spend more because of random finds! I always end up getting a better price on what I was actually looking for but buying more things (aka more $$ spent) because they are so good at tempting me with advertisements and "you might also enjoy this" sections.

I'll try to get a baby bump picture up soon. Let me tell you - its bigger. :) 27 1/2 weeks right now... and can't wait for 40!