36 Weeks

Sorry it is so blurry, but I can't find my camera and the cellphone was my only other option.

Some of you have asked how I've been feeling. Overall I have been feeling healthy. There are places on my body (hips, ankles) that haven't felt this way ever, which can be a bit exhausting. I'm healthy though! I could sleep about 3 hours more each night but that just doesn't happen. Lately my braxton hicks have been a little more intense but that doesn't really mean anything at all (my mind would like to think that is some kind of sign but I can't find anything that supports that...boo).

This weekend, we are going to a wedding (boy I can't wait to dress up and look pretty with my swollen feet/ankles/face and huge stomach!) I'm also getting a pedicure with my grandma and mom and going to spend some time at the lake with my mom (girl's day... at the men's place. I like it!)

It will be a busy week coming up, but the great part is I only work 2/7 days! Can't complain about that even with my husband being gone for part of it. Lets see if I can be efficient and actually get some things done instead of jumping from one project to another. I am notoriously bad at that, but you have to understand - when I start something, another project looks more important or easier to finish... the temptation is almost impossible to overcome.

Hope you all have a good weekend! I will not have any internet access til Sunday night, and I'm fine with that. Who doesn't love a good break from the world?

Here's hoping I don't go into labor in Monticello, MN.



Goodbye money, hello lovely loveseat!

Toda we spent some serious money.

BUT I FINALLY GOT MY LOVESEAT!

Recap: I fell in love with this:

But unfortunately this beauty costs $1200-1600 which is a teeny bit more than we are willing to pay. Oh did you  not catch that sarcasm? Because seriously there is no possible way we could spend that much dough (sorry, I'm watching Jersey Shore as I type this and the word "dough" describing money just seems appropriate. Lets just leave it alone that I'm actually watching this show) on one piece of furniture when we have so many other things to spend our limited cashola (better?) on.

Sadly, I had to move on from my true love, the french loveseat, and try to find a great sloppy second affordable companion. So I go to the FurnitureMart, which is where we got our couch.


They had nothing. All the loveseats were boring and super expensive. Like $800 or more for even the cheap ones. What is that?? Loveseats are not couches. Why do they cost the same? So we moved on. Well, I moved on with the sister instead of the working hubby to go to Unclaimed Freight Furniture Store. Turns out all the couches have matching loveseats so we just had to find a couch and there would be a cheaper version aka the loveseat  available as well. There was one, just one! that I liked, that really made my heart go thump thump. No lie - it was meant to be! Plus, we are also getting a mattress, and the one we had picked out at the FurnitureMart was also available for the exact same price here. So we could buy both things, same place, and pick them up, same place.

I, of course, dragged Mike back, he approved, and we made our purchase. $1400 later (for both the mattress and the loveseat plus the tephlon protection layer) we left...with nothing. We'll be able to pick them up on Wednesday, but unfortunately Mike is gone all next week and won't be here to transport it, so I am hoping to trick sweetly convince a strong masculine friend with a truck or trailor to help me out with this. I am so impatient but it is worth it!!

And don't tell me you aren't just as eager to see the lovely new comforter on the new bed sooner rather than later. So many things to look forward to!

So here is the couch version (loveseat picture not available):



I'll get you a real picture when we have it in our possession. I'm loving all the changes being made around here. Each thing makes it even homier, whether we buy it, make it, or just find or are given it.

Oh. And there is a possibility of us getting a rug that I found (rectangle, $214) but I am unable to find a good picture (or one at all I guess). Plus thats kind of expensive. Did I say kind of? Why does everything have to cost so much....

Oh and we got two new lamps at Sam's Club for only $49 each. Sturdy, tall, standing lamps that I love. Well who doesn't love matching lamps that don't look like they are straight out of the eighties. Pictures of those coming soon also. I'm telling you, you aren't going to recognize the "formal'' living room after all these changes!

Picnic update

The picnic went great! Better than expected for sure since the sun was shining and the wind didn't get to crazy. At one point before it started, we had this feeling that a lot more people we didn't know at all were going to come, so Mike boogied over to Sam's club and got more of everything just to be safe. Of course this always backfires in your face because I think everyone was afraid to really dig in and eat!

We expected about 10 people to come that we had met previously, and then maybe 10 more that we hadn't met at all yet. Out of those original 10, only 2 came so the fact that we still had 20-25 people show up was awesome. That just showed how many  people we got the opportunity to meet in our neighborhood. They told me some of the old neighborhood "gossip" and caught me up with who lives where and all that. I am so glad we did this, even if it did totally exhaust me this weekend.

A couple of people even brought more food and one lady brought me a plant! I have no idea what kind it is but it is super pretty. We'll see how long I can keep it along. If you don't already know, I really really really am not good at keeping potted plants alive. Like I can kill them within 24 hours. No joke.

In other news, last night we went furniture shopping hoping to find a loveseat and a new mattress. We had zero luck on the loveseat. I was completely shocked with how expensive they are! And for what? They all look basically the same and have no character whatsoever. I am almost desperate to get a new loveseat for our upstairs living room since right now the one we have is like falling into a black hole. Completely awful for me who is planning on only being upstairs for the first month or so after Josie's arrival.

The mattress shopping went a lot better. We found one we wanted but didn't get it yet. The big debate right now is should we get a queen or king size mattress. I was fine with queen since our room is small and its still bigger than the teeny tiny double we have, but Mike surprised me and said if we are going to get a new one, we should just get the king because he's only going to make one bed frame (yep he's making it!) and we'll probably want a bigger bed in the future. I'm fine with it, but our room is going to look tiny! Good thing I like the minimalist look in our bedroom anyway because we won't be able to fit much more once that beast gets moved in.

I even found a rug I liked that would work perfect for the upstairs living room. Too bad Mike is completely not on board with that! With the noncarpeted floors and vaulted ceilings, the echoing can be a bit overwhelming so maybe I'll get him to see the light on this topic when there is a child screaming and dog barking that can be heard from 3 blocks away. Lets all hope!

Sunny Sunday!

It's a beautiful day for a picnic! Praise the Lord for answering prayers and giving us this sunshine and higher temps.

I cannot wait to get to know some neighbors and eat some grilled food.



Buckley's excited too. :)

Sometimes I think write in a certain way hoping for comments. Is that wrong? I just cannot tell you how much I love getting an email saying "anonymous says..." at which point I race over to blogger.com and immediately read the comment in anticipation. Seriously this is what it does to me! I stress this only to encourage you, not to freak you out. And if you comment almost every post and feel a bit like a stalker, do not let this stop you (Liz. Mom.). Every one makes my day.\

The nestling set in again tonight. While my banana bread (yep, thats right - ultimate nesting symptom numero uno is to make banana bread I've been told) was baking I decided that my pots and pan drawer location junk pile needed to be organized. My ultimate goal was to get this sweet old mixer Mike has to fit somewhere upstairs so we can use it on a regular basis instead of the occasional is-it-worth-going-downstairs-just-to-make-this-recipe-and-get-the-mixer. So the end result? I got it to fit!... but not in that cabinet. Too Tall. Instead, I had to rearrange two more cabinets... Not a bad thing - just not planned. I think there were sweat beadlets on my forehead. Oh, is that too visual? Don't worry, I daintily wiped it away with a handkerchief after.