Random update

I'm still pregnant. Very very VERY pregnant.

We're trying to enjoy the start of summer. This rain SUCKS. Though Monkey has been able to enjoy her 50 cent yard sale Elmo sprinkler a few times.


Speaking of this rain sucking - our garden needs some sun. Very badly.

We had a lovely Father's Day. Monkey and I made T some homemade blueberry waffles for breakfast (and made a bunch extra to freeze). We spent the day meandering about. I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce to freeze and made a sling for New Bean (my first ever sewing project, start to finish, with a pattern and ZERO help! I was - AM - quite proud of myself.).


We later ended up at Treworgy's for ice cream and to feed the goats. One of the baby goats decided to give Monkey a haircut (I caught it eating her hair through the fence!). Luckily, very minimal damage was done (you can't even tell) and we got an excellent laugh out of it. After feeding T some grilled steaks, grilled scallops, grilled portobella mushrooms, boiled asparagus and twice baked potatoes (nom nom nom), we went to a field down the road to fly our Elmo kite.

Our chickens have yet to lay eggs. We do expect it anytime in the next couple of weeks, though. And are these the laziest chickens ever or do all chickens lounge around like this? The sprawled out legs crack me up.


Ok. That's all I have time for today. I figured I should let my loyal readers know there is still no baby. And all of this relaxing crap being forced on me has my blood pressure WAY back down to normal.

Hopefully, my next update is to introduce you to New Bean. Momma's ready!

My feet are still up

Sort of.

Update since Wednesday:
I had more screening done yesterday. My blood pressure is back down to normal, though I do need to keep monitoring it daily. And I specifically asked if I do have preeclampsia or not - the verdict was no.

So that is good news. I am still taking it easy, though it's difficult for me. I feel pretty useless - especially watching T finish up MY projects. And I'm trying to just chill out with the housework and stick to LIGHT cleaning (thought light cleaning often involves a rag and bucket for me so I have to remind myself to slow down and take a break!).

I am working on small projects with Monkey - like finally organizing all of Monkey's baby clothes to pull out the gender neutral clothing and organize all of the girly stuff by size so I know which box to pull out should we need the girly stuff.

I will also be tackling one more painting project - but I promise it's small and easy. T painted the ceiling in the nursery and was quite annoyed to find the paint had dripped behind the tape. I'm the paint toucher upper in our house, so I'm going to fix up those drips and patch a few holes in the walls (and paint them) so we have a clean blank slate for New Bean.

I figured I'd post a quick update while I had a minute. I'm off to finish organizing baby clothes while Monkey finishes up her nap.

Kitchen remodel on the cheap

I need to share with you the amazing pictures I received from my Mom last night. She's trying to make me feel better for not getting to see the finished product in person until September. HA

My parents built their house back in 1983, doing as much of the building on their own as they could (even Itty Bitty Jodi hammered some nails into that house!). Money being as tight as it was, much of the house was left in an unfinished state (as in, the plywood subflooring was painted until real flooring could be purchased). As the years went by, Mom started to have more and more of a passion for decorating (which, as you've seen, she passed on to me). But, again, money being tight and decorating resources very limited in Northern Maine, they've very slowly been working on turning their house into the home they want it to be.

The kitchen was outfitted with second hand cupboards they got for cheap when they built the house. There were a lot of empty spaces between the top ones so my Dad built some in to fill the spaces (in the before pictures, you can tell the homemade ones because they have no handles on them). Appliances have been replaced once (and are on the slate for their next big purchase). And the flooring is a slate blue laminate floating floor installed in the mid-90's to cover the cheap linoleum they'd had installed early on.

I'm having to dig through my old photos to find some true before photos, so there are some cheesy family pictures in here. Pay no attention to the people - just the room. HAHA

Before:

Sorry Mom - It's the only picture I could find that showed the old light, the old table AND that corner of the room. Dear Readers - focus on the puppy on the butt. hehe


Here, you can see an empty spot next to the stove. There used to be a broom closet there (this picture was taken after the remodel had begun and Dad had taken that closet down).


You can kind of see the broom closet here, on the right.


And here is the big honking desk.

Now feast your eyes on this! Remember, it's still in progress, but it's already a huge transformation!

The table was scored at JCPenny on sale and with a discount code. Having it shipped to the nearest store saved on shipping as well. (Notice the half wall in the back - my Dad built it years ago. It's going to be getting a paint job soon).


The new light fixture was also from JCPenny on clearance plus a discount code.

I am in love with the doors. The cabinets themselves were not changed. My Dad, with the help of their carpenter, built the doors.

Dad built a new cupboard/cabinet where the old broom closet was. LOVE it!

Closeup of doors, knobs (Ebay find) and new countertops (purchased through their local hardware store and I think is the most expensive change they made).

Finally, the big desk was moved into the basement. Beadboard was added to the bottom half of the wall. This cupboard was bought on clearance at JCPenny (again with discount codes). Notice how well the new cupboard doors match it so well? An extra piece of countertop was purchased to put on here. And there will be something happening above it (If memory serves, Dad built or is building some type of shelf).

It's pretty much just the fun stuff left - as in, the accessorizing! I'd love to be able to go help!

And now I need to convince my Dad to come help T do the same to MY cabinets. hehe

Mom - care to chime in on any of this? Corrections or additions?

My feet are now up

I had a regularly scheduled prenatal appointment yesterday. My blood pressure was up a bit and there was a trace of protein in my urine. They immediately started the screening process for preeclampsia. After 30 minutes on the fetal monitor, I was sent to the lab for blood work (at which point my brain caught up with what was happening and I had the start of an emotional meltdown in front of the poor lab technician).

I went back to work and was luckily alone in the office where I proceeded to have a full blown emotional meltdown (I haven't had one in 36 weeks - I think I was entitled. haha). My poor Mom called in the middle of it, not having seen my email update on my doc's appointment yet. Oops. I think I scared her. I went forward in my day with the intent of tying up any and all loose ends I had just in case.

To be honest, preeclampsia isn't really all that scary at 36 weeks pregnant. New Bean really only needs 1 more full week of baking to be considered full term. So the emotional meltdown was obviously unnecessary. I guess hormones got the best of my brain.

My blood work came back fine. I'm still going to be monitored a little more closely (twice a week instead of once a week) just to be safe.

My ever loving husband, however, has decided to put me on modified "bed rest." He's taken away all of the power tools. I'm only "allowed" to care for Monkey, cook and do some light cleaning. No more projects, no more "heavy" lifting (not even laundry baskets) and no more playing in my flowers. Now, I know I could work on things while he's gone all day, but that would just result in a fight at night and THAT I do not have the energy for. So I'll comply with his wishes... sort of. (A sewing machine is neither a power tool OR requires my being on my feet, correct? hehe).

So I'll probably be getting around to sharing some of the projects I've finished now that I have the time to take and upload pictures of them.

And now I have belly comparisons for you.

First up - 36 weeks pregnant for Monkey (2007):

Second - 36 weeks pregnant for New Bean (last night):

Perfect timing. Monkey just came stumbling out of bed.

Have a good day!

More junking fun

I took Monkey junking again yesterday. We hit up a few yard sales close by. Here is our loot for $17:

The stool is now on my deck and will soon have a fern sitting on it. The two chairs will get a black paint treatment and find a home next to our pellet stove. The cake platter will also get a coat of black spray paint and be used for display (not for food!). The plates will be great to use as appetizer platters for parties. The pitcher was just cute. And I found a pair of maternity shorts for just $2 - great to get me through the warm weather for the next few weeks.

And, of course, the Elmo sprinkler. This was, of course, Monkey's find. She freaked out, let go of my hand and raced up the driveway to where he was sitting in the pile of toys for sale. For 50 cents, he had to come home with us! Do you think I've created a monster?

The other great find I wanted to share is the crib we found for New Bean. We bought this a couple of months ago off of craigslist for $50. After much debate (sometimes heated), I agreed to ask our pediatrician how he felt about a spray painted crib. He gave me the green light. So work began yesterday afternoon. I don't have a picture of it all put together, but you can get the gist of the before here.

I'll be sanding the crap out of it and then giving it a fresh coat of black spray paint. Back to the monster I've created - yes, the sander is on. She just HAD to help. I've got a little DIYer on my hands! (I'm always telling her there's no reason to be scared of power tools. hehe)

When T got home, he informed me we have a more heavy duty palm sander in our possession, of which I was not aware. Thank goodness because that one side piece has an hour and a half of sanding into it and is only 3/4 of the way done. I'm hoping to get all of the sanding done this week so I can begin the painting next weekend seeing as we're 4 1/2 weeks and counting to our due date.

Now I've got to get to the insane to do list I've got for the weekend. First up, a quick shower and running to a few new yard sales within 5 miles of us. New Bean is still lacking a dresser!

Have a good weekend!

Yard saling fun

The junking high I was on a couple weeks after the junking trip I took with my Mom has yet to wane. That very Friday, I decided it was time to introduce Monkey to the art of junking. I scoped out the Bangor Daily while drinking my morning coffee and found a few nearby for us to hit. I need to note, Monkey has sort of potty trained herself since the stomach bug she had back in April, but accidents do still happen - hence sticking to NEARBY (though I've since taught her the art of squatting in the woods when desperation strikes. What? I've said it once and I'll say it again - Redneck. haha).

Here is our loot for just $6:

I couldn't pass up the 50 cent frames. A coat of spray paint and they'll be finding a home in either Monkey or New Bean's bedrooms.

A sad confession - Monkey had ZERO Dr. Seuss books. Now she has 4 and enjoys them. She actually put them in the magazine basket near the potty so she has reading material in the bathroom. HA!

And the darling little tray was purchased with the intent of putting Monkey's small tea set on it. Sadly, the tray was just a tad too small. I put it to use holding all of her hair clips and pony tail holders instead, seeing as they were being stored in a small Ziploc bag on her dresser. Much cuter now.

Sometime next week, I'll be taking an updated picture of Monkey's room because I never did get around to sharing her big girl room! It's still not finished, but for those of us obsessed with decorating in our homes, are we ever really finished?

My baby girl is 2

We had a big birthday party this weekend for Monkey. Our parents, my brother and Scooby (my nephew) all came down to celebrate with us. We kept things pretty low key and as inexpensive as possible.

Monkey loves Elmo, so I decided to go with an Elmo themed party.

I kept decorations at a minimum - just enough to say. I got the streamers and balloons at Dollar Tree. It ran about $10, including the red napkins, 2 party hats and pack of party horns I picked up. The Elmo "Happy Birthday" banner was a "splurge" from IParty ($3.50ish). I had originally picked up some Elmo party horns and Elmo party hats, but I'll be returning them when I found fun red ones at the Dollar Tree. Red was enough Elmo themed for me for the price difference - and Monkey had fun either way.

I bought a Wilton Elmo cake pan at JoAnn's with a 40% off coupon. I picked up a tube of black frosting at the same time because I didn't think I'd be able to get frosting black enough on my own. I used Duncan Hines Butter Recipe Golden (what? I'm ready to pop a kid out - shortcuts shortcuts shortcuts!). It's your basic yellow cake but calls for butter instead of oil and for box cake, it's unbelievably tasty. I used a full batter and half of another (the remaining was made into cupcakes and tossed in the freezer - without frosting - for later consumption). I made buttercream frosting from scratch and used crayon candles on the edge of the base - and for her to blow out (because Elmo loves his crayons!).

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. And Monkey was thrilled! (I need to invest in a nice cake platter - I have a great round one, but this obviously didn't fit).

Lunch was a turkey that's been in our freezer since T received it for Christmas at work. Turkey isn't exactly a summer time food in my mind, so to keep it from feeling like a Thanksgiving dinner, my Mom made a potato and egg salad, I threw together a veggie packed pasta salad and T pulled some corn on the cob from last fall out of the freezer. Simple and quite a bit more summery than mashed potatoes and gravy.

A couple months ago, we found Elmo Live in the Target sales flyer for half price. At $30, we decided we couldn't pass it up (we never would have paid full price because that's just highway robbery). I will say this is the absolute most annoying toy in our house, but she loves it so it's worth it. I've never heard so many squeals as I did when she was opening it. T couldn't get him out of the box fast enough. hehe

And because filling the kids with cake wasn't enough, we went on an outing to Treworgy Orchards for ice cream and the petting zoo later in the day. Twigs is one of our absolute favorite places and I was very glad to finally get to share the fun with my parents, brother - and most importantly, Scooby!

Monkey's actual birthday was on Tuesday. We saved a small Elmo themed gift to give her on the actual day - a Beta fish named Dorothy (Elmo's goldfish is Dorothy - we went for a Beta because they're so low maintenance). T pulled a few of the extra cup cakes out of the freezer and I had saved a small amount of extra frosting so we blew out candles again last night. We then took another trip to Twigs for more ice cream and playing with the goats to have a special family celebration. (I paid for all that sugar when trying to get her to bed last night! haha).

It's so fun to watch her grow and learn, but she's not my itty bitty baby anymore.

What a very bitter sweet moment.