Friday, April 23, 2010

done & done #3: rainy day edition

the lawn.
ironically, the one thing i set out to do, fertilize our lawn, didn't happen today.

after a trip to home depot- okay, two.- some filling of holes, tilling the bare patches, applying seed & mulch to the less-lawn-loved areas, i went to read the directions on the fertilizer, and it said to apply to wet lawn, but not if rain was expected within 24 hours. oops!

i do love myself a little rain though. and there is something exhausting yet uplifting and invigorating about working in the yard...

now, excuse me, i think it is time for a hot shower.
and just because i can: another image of the pear blossoms and barn. because i can't get enough of staring out my window at this- even on a rainy, gray day. Good thing that is the window i stand at to do the dishes!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

done & done #2

the husband is done with finals and i have a husband again! we had his favorite banana & pudding filled cake to celebrate. i even then him drown his in a cup of milk without saying anything....

and all with enough left over batter to make these little minis...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

reason #11

that i love having my own bit of earth

pear blossoms
&
i'm still loving our barn.
maybe the best $25 we've spent on this house.

today i went to work and accidently left my phone at home, for the second day in a row... my brain is working especially well, thanks for asking!

so i came home after a few hours because my phone is, after all, a work phone too, and if i can't answer it, i'm probably not doing a very good job working!

i decided to move my work from home station outside for the beautiful afternoon. very good idea indeed.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

not on the list...

friday morning i decided that amongst the other errands/chores of the day, i was in need of a baby belly fitting shirt...

i am down to 3 shade shirts in colors black, white, and pink. all other options worn up to this point require sweaters, and my internal core temperature is no longer in need of layered clothing.

rotating 3 shirts gets old. fast.

with no inexpensive options found (do they make the clothes unattractive on purpose??? i found 2 repeated fashions, bad elastic baby-doll look, or very large floral. umm.. no thanks...) the wheels in my brain started turning.

pretty soon (in place of sleep) my brain was concocting ideas for clothes that could be made from my fabric stashes.

note: my brain is a better designer/sewer than my tangible body. especially when irrationally tired.

saturday morning i woke up to a counter full of sewing machine and fabric. you see, i was supposed to be working on curtains and pillowcases.

note #2: i can only start sewing projects when I have a span of a few days that i don't mind major clutter in the house, or the project is going to take less than an afternoon, because our sewing table doubles as food prep area/ eating area/ everything else that take space area... since the husband is currently MIA with finals, it is a perfect time to get all pending mending projects complete...

i quickly reject the project in progress, and decided that today i will wear a new shirt! and start cutting and sewing according to the ideas stocked in my sleep deprived brain.

i should not do this.

i should not sew without a pattern from someone who knows what they are doing.

i should not sew with the expectation that it will solve my dilemma in the next couple of hours.

i started simple. a dress i owned that was simply too short. i modeled. determined the perfect maternity length. cut to nice tunic-y length. hemmed. made mental note that hemming on knit was not perfect. did not care. found small spot, decided to wash and dry before wearing.

shrinkage. had i never washed you before???

this dress, once too short as a dress, too long as a shirt. now too short as anything and exposed the beloved belly band on the jeans. not attractive.

discarded.

on to the next option. a simple sundress. i will use the knit i have been saving to make the perfect dress with.

3 hours later: appears to be a mu-mu that would also work if i was carrying triplets. ummm. not quite was i was going for.

verdict: i wore my black shade t-shirt with a different colored scarf. that is what my wardrobe is reduced to: rotating my various scarves...

verdict #2: curtains & pillows - the manageable project- remain incomplete.

but i still have one more idea up my sleeve.... do i or do i dot attempt???

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

done & done #1

check it off the list.
1 1/2 years later, and after much dust and construction - i can't even tell you how great it feels to put something up on the walls.

i feel like i've been collecting(thank you d.i.)- and painting (thank you spray paint) frames for months. now i finally bit the bullet and picked a great assortment of pictures to put in them. they make me smile to look at them and remember -well the memories that are mine... don't so much remember the husband's childhood, let alone his parents wedding-

off to the next project!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

nesting?

if this is what people call nesting, i think i had misinterpreted it all along.

somehow my brain had envisioned nesting as this glowy happy image of being so excited that you couldn't help but float, yes i said float, around with one of those little feather dusters, wanting everything to be just perfect.

mine came in a little different form.


walking down the hall at work, i was chatting it up with a co-worker, discussing how much time i have before bebe bobby makes his grand arrival. i like to pretend that he is coming late, just so i can be a little less crazy
when he does come late.

she, like everyone
who is so kind, told me, well he might come early, you know. you'll be full-term in 2 1/2 weeks.

normally, i dismiss this in my head as a sweet sentiment, and make mental note to pay no mind, as i know better, and expectations can really make a bugger out of a day.

but instead, all i really heard was, you'll be full-term in 2 1/2 weeks.

what????

when did this happen????

and suddenly all i could think of was: i could mentally plan for 8 weeks, but i dang better be prepared for 2 1/2 weeks.

and prepared i am not. did you know that all you really need (so i am told...) is a few diapers, a car seat, and everything else you can get later? yea. we don't have a carseat!

enter: nesting?(i still question that word) / panic attack/ creation of massive to do list in my head instead of sleeping from 3-6 am.

i'm pretty sure when i wrote down the to do list, i had hoped it would be the to do list for this weekend. however, since i add 3 things to it every time i cross one off, i'm thinking i hope this all happens before bebe makes his arrival!

to do:

buy ingredients for sunday dinner, jo-ann’s: vinyl, thread, needle for box spring cover, spray paint the back of the frames, spray paint the front of the frames, map out wall placement for frame collage, buy frame hangy thingys, order photos, hang photo frame collage, frog & toad pictures, mom’s taxes, return & get new boxes from IKEA, organize new boxes for shelves, clear clutter, sweep, mop, clean the bathroom, dishes, scrub fridge, scrub oven knobs, make new A/C cover, thank you notes, find a big mirror for the wall, home depot :trellace, seeds, shovel, fert./manure, plant: peas, carrots, onions, greens, make baby presents (for those born and unborn little bebes), design/ make the box spring cover, make closet curtains, gray bed spread, buy/make pillows to match?, sand end tables, paint end tables, mosaic?, put up shelves, try shelves in baby’s room, sell TV, sell stereo, Lowes: special painters tape, fix the paint on the walls, build planter boxes, get rid of daffodils that died/ keep bulbs?, fertilize the lawn, buy dog food at Costco, make strawberry jam, car seat!

now if/when all this happens, we'll actually be able to show you this house and the projects of the last 2 years.

hoping that means posts with fun pictures including me with my feet up to come.

Monday, April 5, 2010

good morning

fresh fruit in my cereal makes me really happy. even when that cereal comes really early in the morning.

thank you easter bunny.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

easter bunny

i tried a couple of different things with the eggs again this year.

the plan was to make magic using a some tissue paper and a bit of electrical tape. i even made an attempt at an egg for the bebe, using some of the stellar tissue paper i have been gifted.

it was a bit of a bust. the tape wouldn't stick very well, and only the dark blue tissue color transferred to the egg- turned out be be the square version of polka dots...

turns out we porters are no martha. at least this household of porters. i wouldn't say the same for the some of the in-laws. my un-biased opinion is that they are way better than martha.
but we know how to have a good time anyway. did i mention that because i had these lofty plans for making the eggs super cool, i paid almost no mind to the cheap-o dye tablets i was buying? yep- turns out we got a whopping 3 tablets, and the clear crayon. it was neat-o.besides, turns out mother nature hides plain white eggs the best anyway!

and when all is said and done, if the husband knows you perfectly enough to fill your basket like this:
then you have it pretty good.

Friday, April 2, 2010

here's to the day off!

have so much to do today.

we are finally moving back into our bedroom!! (can i get a hip-hip hooray for that one?)

started to get up when bobby did this morning.

nope. not a chance.
settled back in amongst pretty much all the pillows we own to try again later....