Book 31 - My Reading Life

I finished up "My Reading Life" by Pat Conroy this week.  I am not entirely sure why I picked this book up its a book about books.  It ended up being very well written with lots of fun stories about Pat's life as a reader and a writer.  It's prompting me to want to re-read gone with the wind and perhaps pick up some other classics.   And even the Great Santini and other Pat Conroy Books.

I really appreciated how easily this book flowed and how I wanted to keep reading.  I also must admit that I cried in a few parts not sure if that is pregnancy or just good writing but I did.  On to my next book.

The Third Trimester - #babyburf

Well I crossed over into the third trimester a few weeks back now. So I thought it was time for some more baby update: 

• My baby is measuring big still which does not cause me any real concern. I think that perhaps they should tell me not what the average baby's size is but calculate based on our genetics and makeup what he should be.
• My immune system is all out of whack, despite working from home and coming in contact with many less germs and having the flu shot I have had the flu twice now. 
•  Heartburn and I are pretty much inseparable. Blueberries even seemed to give me heartburn the other day. I'm pretty much got the drinking milk and protein thing down although some days the milk is a struggle. 
•  At the last dr. appointment I've only gained 6.5lbs but I feel as though the scale must be broken because my stomach and boobs seem to be exploding. (Dustin thinks however my thighs are smaller so perhaps there are "small feats", I hope though this doesn't mean my butt is also flatter because I always struggle with that). 
•  I went to the hobby lobby the other day and someone saw him moving and was like "oh are you due really soon?" That seemed funny to me, I imagine in a month they might be like "is your due date tomorrow?" 
• He is consistently on the move now too especially when I'm getting ready for bed. 
• We have finished painting his room and now I need to rip up the carpet so we can decide what to do with the floors and baseboards and actually set-up the room. 
• I still am struggling with trying to like baby things. I'm confident despite everyone's advice that #babyburf will be just fine even without a plastic bouncer, dumb Disney products or wear goofy mommy loves you and babies love boobies shirts. Maybe at some point I will cave but for now we're going to keep it simple. I'm not intending for him to have a deprived childhood but I don't really think there's a necessity for a $100 plastic activity seat that gives me a panic attack or any of that other stuff.
• We did get all registered though despite these challenges.  And yes I found towels that didn't annoy me too much.
• We also bought a rocker/glider chair that looks more like an arm chair and it's probably Dustin's favorite place to sit. We aren't sure if it will go in his room or in the living room yet either, but my girlfriends with kids have said this was the one thing they wished they had bought and didn't so I bought it right first.
• I am working on making him a baby book that's not really like the traditional baby book I have but a more flexible version - I'll be sharing that soonish. 
• Dustin will be traveling a bunch for work until the baby comes so we thought I might need a "person".  You know the kind of "person" that goes to the hospital with you when you're in labor and your husband is 5 hours away, the just in case "person".  I asked Kathleen yesterday if she will be my "person" and she said of course, so I got that covered and I'm sure that in a moments notice that Lynley, Amy or Kemi all will step up to fill in if needed too, but it's good to have a dedicated "person".

You can thank Kathleen for the goofy belly picture she has been asking me why I don't post a weekly update of my growing belly so I took one for her.  

Project Life 2014 - February

I finally finished up my project life for February. I thought I would do one of those fancy triangle pages seen on Pinterest.  That proved way more complex then I had planned you really need to plan it well since you sew in the photos and paper.  But I like how the triangle pages turned out.

It's very interesting even though I had to trim off important bits of the photos.

I also made my own page protector to house the 14 on 14 photos this was also more challenging then I like but I love it (and then I only used 12 of the prints lol).

I have been saving bits of paper and cards etc and so I decided I would likely save all of these in a pocket page for each month.  So I created one it's just a regular 8.5x11 page protector sewn smaller so my cards and notes, and paint chips don't slide out as easily.  I hope to continue this for each month if I have interesting bits to include.

Anyhow that's February documented.  

Book 30 - How to be a Women

It's been so long that I read anything outside of a blog post or new article that I had to look up what book I am actually on.  But alas I finished one this week and with Dusty out of town again I may finish another one or even two. 

This book "How To Be a Women" by Caitlin Moran was #30 (imagine my surprise when I discovered that my list has been misnumbered and I'm actually one more ahead that I thought woot woot).  
There were parts of this book where I whole heatedly agreed with Caitlin's viewpoints i.e. Her stance on purses, and shoes and even babies but other parts that were a little but raunchy or I don't take the same position.  
But overall it was good writing and a well crafted piece that takes a look at women today and points out ways we need to improve as women and how we can be better feminists.  Anyhow moving right along on my quest to 52 books.

#15 Build a Kitchen Table

2 years ago I remodeled my kitchen, getting rid of my overly large table replacing it with a temporary folding table.  Today I replaced that with a table built by me only took two years.  I built the table from steel pipe, screws, and scrap wood.  This project was relatively simple the hardest part being removing the stickers that come on the pipe (they are resilient to even goo gone) and dealing with a piece of crooked wood.  I also had an issue with a t pipe that was Mis-threaded throwing the balance off.  I basically sketched my plans, bought the pipe and revised my plans and followed these instructions - http://homemade-modern.com/ep03-wood-iron-table/ 

I built it counter top height intentionally because I want to utilize it as extra counter space when cooking and really honestly nobody sits in the kitchen and eats.  Anyhow I love it already.   And next time I will not wait two years.

Shower Decor For Lo

Well I couldn't go to Lo's shower in Ohio this weekend but I did take some time and make some decor for her mom.  Both were Pinterest projects or my adaptation of them.  

This first one was super simple it's basically card stock mounted on card stock linked with brads and tied up with lace (blue lace that once belonged to my grandma).  It's hanging from our wedding cutout just for lack of a better place to photograph it.  

This second one was a little more challenging I wanted Los mom aka "Momlo" to be able to change things out if she wanted so I made the quote interchangeable and everything can be swapped out and reused easily too.  The frame was a scratched one at Hobby Lobby for like 75% off.  The quote is something that reminds me of my brother and they went to red rock last year to see the Avett Brothers.  This actually has an easel too but works leaned up against a wall too.  Paper, ribbon and dolly all from my stash photo from they engagement pics.

And as a bonus I am considering this one of the crafts for the 2014 List so boom 2/4 donezo!

WIP - Progress is Progress

Wednesday already huh?  Time is floating by so quickly.  I have made progress on things around here although not as much as my liking.  

Things in Progress:

#babyburf room - all painting but the molding and touch-up is officially done.  We had a major Pinterest fail on the emphasis wall but Kathleen and I emphasized and boom it was remedied although not to perfection.  I will share photos soon.

The Girlfriend Scrapvomit Quilt - got basted and I started the quilting on this one day last week when the idea of painting made me ill.  It's probably actually 4 hours from finished.  Yay on that!

Purging - I kind of stopped with this right after I found a bin of fabric that can be used to finish the Sushi Quilt.  I still easily have 5-10 shelves/bins I should go through but Dust got his gym set up around my mess.  I do have this on my to do list to finish though.

Kitchen Table - This project should have been super simple.  I did my research I sketched my plans.  Then I tried to buy the supplies.  I needed trips to 4 home improvement stores (no one place had enough of what I needed).  I also went to 4 salvages looking for interesting wood for the top.  I did hand select some old hardwoods for it however I am like 1sq foot short and I may scrap that component completely from my design.   But I have the top and legs mostly assembled however my drill battery died mid screws last night so it's on hold while it charges up.  

Other Projects - 

+Finished up some secret bridal shower crafts for Lo's shower (photos soon).

+Bought a book for #babyburf to create his own baby book.  I am going to do this in a simple style.  I pulled a bunch of random supplies that have been designated for this project. 

+ new Roomate mostly moved in.  Check 

Onward and upward into the week. 

Bread #4 Brown Bread from a Box ;)

So with bread four I totally cheated.  A few weeks ago I spotted a mix in like bed bath beyond or maybe it was kohls even for brown bread and I bought it.  It was that kind you know the kind of mix where you add like three things.  Yup this was one of those breads.  

Overall I felt like the bread wasn't very close to brown bread at least not of the Irish variety.  It was light and fluffy.  It was good hot.  I did enjoy having it make exactly 1 loaf, which with some dinner guests we polished off.  But it wasn't spectacular just ok.  Not sure I would spend the $5 to buy this again, but I liked the quickness of the bread.

14 on 14 - March

The 14th snuck up on me yesterday.  I swear I am still back in February.  Anyhow it was pretty much a regular day.  Here's the 14 photos snapped.  

1 - breakfast Cherrios (ps I like multigrain x10 better than regular)

2 - the attendance list printed for my virtual classes (work)

3 - weird lunch of BBQ rice and cheese.  I ended up tossing an egg on top for added protein and mixing it up.

4 - attempting to dislodge the BBQ stuck in my teeth  

5 - I called our governor about the central Indiana transit bill

6 - quilt basting

7 - discard scraps

8 - and we're quilting

9 - we went bowling with Dustin's old friend.  I got out my 1999 bowling shirked aren't the awesome?

10 - beech grove bowl

11 - Dust was chilling

12 - I took some measurements for a project 

13 - I also made a sketch

14 - bedtime

This month I found it slightly easier to snap all the photos but at first I was worried because at 5 pm I had taken 4.  But it does get easier.

WIP Wednesday - Purging, Nursery, Spareroom

So the flu got me after our return from our trip.  Which makes the progress on things around here sloooooowwww.  But things are happening: 

+ Dust's building a new gym which will share space with my garage studio so I have been trying to purge a little out there.  I got rid of about 95% of all random school books, papers etc I had done dating back to my freshmen years of high school.  Seriously who wants to read my flash cards about the French Revolution? Not me.  I kept only things I truly thought special.

+ I am also working on consolidating my crafting/art supplies.  While it's nice to have a mini supply store I have found much of what I have I am not actually actively using, nor do I really love, nor will I use it.  So supplies like floral arranging, beading, art journaling knicknacks, purse/belt making supplies will soon be sold or moving on to the local goodwill. 

+ I am very torn about what I want to do with my rubber stamp collection.  This is a very expensive part of my craft supplies but honestly I am not using a good deal of these and they take up a massive amount of space.  I am especially partial of my alphabets which I easily have over 100 sets of.  They get used more than the images I have; but they also take up a huge amount of space and will I ever stamp 100 different letter "b"s not very likely.  For now I am keeping them although I did pair down a few sets of stamps that just aren't really my style to purge.  I still need to decide what makes the most sense with these.

+ In addition to all the action happening in the garage the Babyburf's room now has two walls painted one blue and one green.  I am hoping Kathleen wants to help me finish with the other two this week.  Especially since we'll be buying the crib and maybe dresser this weekend!  

+ We also are clearing out some space in the guest room too.  As we have other news in that we're getting a new roommate starting next week.   Even though Dust and I had discussed that the next person to room with us would selfishly be our child and that we would stop having the random revolving door of roommates/houseguests.  Sometimes God has other plans, we recently had the opportunity to help out a friend.   And we both felt like it's the right thing to do, so he is coming to live with us for a little while and so that's also a new project in the works.  

#4 Babymoon - The Gorge - Where's my Winter Boots Now

So Portland is right next to the Columbia River Gorge, home to some beautiful picturesque landscape and like 27 waterfalls.  Also it's near Mt. Hood.  One morning we took a trip there leaving Portlands sunny 60 degrees only to arrive and discover freezing cold and snow.  So much snow that some roads we tried to take were closed.  And naturally guess who had inappropriately put on Toms that morning?  You guessed it me!  

Once we pulled into the parking lot if what we had intended to be our third stop but due to closed roads was our first, I quickly discovered I was going to have very cold feet as we plunged into snow and ice covered sidewalks.  Multanomah Falls was gorgeous even in the snow we did not hike much because everything was so slippery.

But we did meet a nice lady who graciously offered to snap our photo together and was very excited we were babymooning. (Notice my sunglasses they were needed about 30 miles back in Portland here not so much).    Everything under the falls seemed to be covered in a lush green moss, which I found very pretty in contrast to the snow.

After that we saw a bit more of the Gorge but with my wet shoes and the icy conditions we stayed mostly on the few shoveled paths before leaving for better conditions.

#4 Babymoon - Oregon Coast Someone Likes the Goonies

Another thing we did on our trip was visit the Oregon Coast.  Dustin specifically wanted to visit the Where the Goonies was filmed (I actually while have seen the Goonies it was not particularly a movie I loved or really remembered).  But we still went to the Oregon Film Museum and saw where Goonies was filmed seemed there's a big Goonies following?   We also went to Seaside and a few other stops along the way.  It was a weird day where like for 20 minutes it would be sunny and clear then the next twenty raining and misty and back again.

It was a good way to spend the day.

We ended our trip with Dustin getting food poisoning which was dreadful but it meant we spent the last of the trip just kind of chilling before we return.  

Anyhow the Pacific Northwest was great and I am so glad we now have been I hope we get to go back sometime. 

And actually with the completion of this trip I have now been to 43 states or maybe 44 I think - so close to the 50 tour which is on my 100 things list!  Alaska, Idaho, Hawaii, and New Mexico I am coming for you next (although maybe not in that order).