She's Crafty

So, I'm not one of those ladies who sews clothes and curtains.  I'm not one who decorates cute little cupcakes and truffles.  I'm not one with many overly impressive home-making skills in general. 

Not that I don't want to be, mind you.  I envy those people and aspire to, slowly, acquire those skills.  I'm a decent cook, a decent crafter, a decent baker.  I think I lack the patience and focus required to really excel at these tasks.  However, I have undertaken a few projects in the last little while that make me proud. 

Project 1: Baby Blanket

When you find out you are pregnant, there is this initial moment of sheer excitement and terror.  After a few days, though, you realize that life has actually gone back entirely to normal.  In that 8 week range where no one knows and your body doesn't feel any different (in my morning-sickness-free case), there's nothing to remind you that your life is changing.  Rapidly. 

So, I started crocheting a baby blanket.  I chose yellow and white because Geoff and I both had yellow baby blankets as kids.  I got about halfway done before I got too tired to crochet.  Seriously.  I would fall asleep just trying to finish a line or two. 

Well, a few weeks ago, I got my energy back and I was able to finish the blanket.  I don't love it, but I made it.  And I think it will be a happy memory of the way I handled my nervous baby energy before anyone else knew about little baby Parker. 

Project 2: Fabric Panel Wall Art

Another good example of a project that started months ago that I didn't finish until now.  In February, Geoff and I took a short trip to Minneapolis.  While there, we spent a good deal of time (and money) at Ikea.  Geoff had mentioned that his office needed some style.  While wandering the hallowed halls of Ikea, I found some awesome fabric and asked Geoff if he liked it.  "For what?" was his response.  "For your office!  I could make cool wall art out of this."  He eyed me with the eyes that know me well enough to say you are going to make wall art?  I can't wait to see this come to fruition. 

Well, his skepticism garnered some momentum as the months passed and the fabric laid in wait on the chair in his office.  Finally, at the thrift store, I found a couple cheap wood frames I could use as the base for my panels.  I should have gone to Home Depot and picked up some wood to hammer them together myself, but it seemed so much easier to buy them already built, second-hand (and it was, undoubtedly, it just took longer). 

So, this weekend I finally buckled down, striped the frames I had bought down, ironed the fabric and staple-gunned it in place on the frames.  And tah dah - Wall Panels!  They look great in his office.  It's a good, patient husband who will wait 4 months for his wife to finish a project for his office.  :)

Categories:

Fire!

Last weekend, Geoff and I undertook a large project (and by "Geoff and I" I really mean Geoff, since I'm relatively useless when it comes to heavy lifting and hard labor these days).  When we bought our house, we inherited a large, home-made play set in our backyard.  In defense of the dude who built it, it was very well-built.  However, it appeared to be pretty old and was quite a splinter factory; just something we didn't need or want in our yard.  So, we knew we wanted to get rid of it.  Well, the thing weighed about a ton and once we built the fence, there was really no way to get it off our lot whole, so Geoff began tearing it apart...piece by piece.  I neglected to grab a picture before he started, because there was even more to it, but below is a picture of said play set during demolition..

As Geoff took the behemoth apart, the next question came up - what to do with the wood?  Well, Geoff decided to start cutting it down into firewood.  At this decision I was a little surprised, since we don't have a fireplace.  This is when the brain child was born that we should have a firepit in our backyard. 

After Geoff finished dismantling the play set and sawing all the wood (using power tools) and I piled it all up into a wood pile, we were left with what happened to be the world's most perfect spot for a fire pit.  The play set was on the back of the lot away from any trees or buildings and underneath it was a perfect patch of grass-free dirt. 

We bought bricks to build the pit itself and hauled then home (a feat at which I was particularly useless).  Here is what the project looked like at this point:

Geoff leveled the dirt and began placing bricks (while I sat in a lawn chair, flanked by dogs, drinking Powerade Zero).  By the end of Memorial Day, it looked like this:

 This weekend we finally got the time to get the final supplies to finish off the project and here's what we've got:

Great job, Geoff!  I look forward to many summer nights roasting marshmallows by the firepit!

P.S. Don't forget to vote on the sex of the baby!  7 days left!

Categories:

Two Things

Hello, dear reader(s),

I know I've been a crappy blogger of late.  I assure you it has nothing to do with the lack of interesting blog topics or that we are living a boring life.  Quite the opposite.  With how busy we are, it's hard to find a time to sit down in front of the computer for 20 minutes and update the Internet on our lives.  But, when my mom starts threatening to write guests posts, it becomes clear I need to get my blog on. 

First: Please see the new poll to the right of this post.  Geoff and I get to find out the sex (well, hopefully!) of our little peanut in 10 days.  I'd love to have everyone tell us if they think boy or girl and we can see who's right! 

For those of you who like to use those superstitions, here's some information that may (or, more likely, may not) be helpful:  Baby's heartbeat was 150 at my last appt. I sleep with my head facing south - although we recently moved the bed, it used to be facing west. I don't have much of a bump yet, but what I do have is low in my abdomen.  My primary cravings have been salty, not sweet.  Good luck!

Second:  Last week on Sunday night, we had our first tornado warning in Fargo.  The weather went from dreary to INSANE in just a matter of minutes.  We weren't home when the sirens went off, so we took shelter with some friends at the University.  Luckily everyone was safe and with the exception of some wind damage, all is well. 

When we did get home after the storm had died down, we found that a trampoline had arrived in our backyard - taking out a chunk of the fence on its way in.  Luckily the fence is brand new (6 months), so the fence stood rock solid and we just need to replace a few boards.  Below are some pics of the damage to our yard and around town (bent street lights and knocked over semi-trailers). 

Categories:

Baby Parker

Well, it's been about a month since I last gave you much "detail-wise" on our little peanut.  So, for those who are interested:

This week s/he is likened to the size of an apple or a navel orange (about 4 inches crown to rump).  I'm 15 weeks pregnant/entering my 16th week. 

I had a doctor's appointment last week.  Not much to report.  I haven't gained any weight yet (which may be a miracle since I crave salty snacks like a maniac).  I got to listen to the little one's heartbeat - which was harder than you might think because the wee muffin wouldn't stay still.  Finally the baby settled down long enough for us to take a good listen and count the bpm - right around 150. 

Although I feel like I'm living in a stranger's body, I'm not really showing yet (unless you have the misfortune of seeing me naked, then I look a little pregnant, or perhaps like I ate too much of the aforementioned salt).  I'm still wearing all my normal pants, but some of my shirts have had to retire (especially the button-ups). 

We have an ultrasound scheduled just three weeks away on June 13th and are excited to get a good look at baby Parker - and hopefully a good look between his or her little legs! We also found out our hospital has a 4-D ultrasound machine, so we'll get to see that as well.  This half freaks me out and half excites me. 

Overall I've been feeling great.  Tired.  I go to sleep much earlier than I used to and I have developed a new love of naps.  Geoff and I went to a class at the hospital last week and after being told how miserable I should be, I'm feeling pretty optimistic about this whole pregnancy thing.  I'm hoping that 2nd trimester energy bump I keep reading about hits me soon.  I've got so much to do before I'm too big to do it.  :) 

We moved Geoff's office to the downstairs so that the baby's room will be upstairs across the hall from us.  All that's in the baby's room right now are a crib and a red couch (that has no other home in the house, so it got relegated to the baby's room for the time being).  But it makes me happy that the baby has a room already.  It helps the whole thing seem real when most of the time it feels like it's all a big theory.  I secretly can't wait until I'm showing, so it can really feel...real. 

And that's what's going on on the baby front. 

Categories:

We Got Skillz

So, I previously mentioned that as my Easter/Mother's Day gift, I was getting a new kitchen sink and faucet.  The existing sink was, let's say, adequate.  It was only 6 inches deep.  Combine that with the faucet that provided relatively no clearance and I was pushing it trying to clean my bigger pots and pans in there.  Originally I decided that a new faucet would solve most of my problems, but as we started looking at faucet costs versus replacing the whole thing, it made more sense economically (and aesthetically) to go with the whole replacement.  Not that I minded! 

We purchased the sink and all the necessary components and plumbing tools last weekend and waited for a day when Geoff would be able to install it.  Tuesday night was a good, slow night for us.  Geoff texted a friend of ours to see if he would come help, but he was out of town that night.  So, Geoff looked at me and asked the question, "Think we can do it?" 

Not one to turn down a challenge, I said, "I'm sure we can." 

So, we became plumbers.  With relatively little issue (or bum cracks), we removed the old sink, widened the hole in the counter top, installed the new sink and faucet, and reattached the disposal.  Pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Before:

Shallow, but not overall terrible.

A good shot to show how little clearance I had with that faucet.

After:

Gorgeous.  Big. 

Look at all that clearance!  I can even fill a mop bucket now!

It came with some protective pieces, I love them.



Categories:

S. P. R. I. N. G.

S: Sunshine.  Fargo does not have a day in the 10 day forecast with a high below 58 or so.  And some days it's supposed to be in the 70s.  A final goodbye to the long winter we had this year. 

P: Pretty Flowers.  Things just started getting really green around here and the trees are starting to bud.  There's not a lot of color to be found, but I bought some happy Pansies for my walkway up to my door and planted them on Saturday.  Poof, instant happy.

R: Riding.  Geoff and I [gladly] hopped on our bikes this weekend for the first time this year.  We rode somewhere between 30 and 40 miles together on Friday and Saturday and Geoff did another 10 with his scouts Saturday morning.  Our bums are sore, but it's totally worth it.

I: Inching along.  Geoff and I have lots of projects around the house that we want to do this spring and summer, but since things can get expensive really fast, we have to pace ourselves.  First up: I'm getting a new sink and faucet in the kitchen.  We bought the sink and faucet this weekend.  Now it just has to be installed.

N:  Nests.  The birds are out in full force.  They've been around for a month or more now, but they are singing exceedingly glad tidings that the freezing temps have ceased and that they can, again, dig for worms.  We have 6-7 trees on our lot and I'm keeping an eye out for nests to watch our little bird friends grow their families. 

G: Grass.  We are going to be buying a used lawnmower shortly, but the grass has finally reached that fantastic shade of spring green we get out here.  I love opening my blinds wide and looking out at the front and backyard at the quickly growing, happy green grass.

Categories:

Dear Louis Pasteur

So, us pregnant ladies owe a lot to good ol' Louis Pasteur.  Without him, I'm pretty sure I'd never be able to drink anything beside water.  And, for anyone who knows me, a life with only water as my liquid is bordering on torture.  I am generally against all liquids with calories in them, but since my pregnancy reading has scared me away from aspartame and the little one growing inside me seems to LOVE orange juice, I have let go of these aspersions for the time being. 

However, all juice is not created equal.  It is suggested to me, again in that stupid pregnancy reading, that I should only drink pasteurized milks and juices to prevent me from getting THE PLAGUE and whatnot (okay, it's actually listeria and salmonella). 

However, not all pasteurization is created equal.  I'm supposed to avoid flash pasteurization (which is done cold to "maintain flavors" but doesn't kill all bacteria).  Due to this distinction, I read a lot of juice labels.  During this time I have found that Pasteurized and Flash Pasteurized are not the only types of pasteurization you will find on a label.  "Gently Pasteurized" was my favorite up until this morning. 

I'm drinking a 12 ounce bottle of milk I picked up at the grocery store on my way to work.  I look down to find that it is "Ultra-Pasteurized."  I'm not sure what it means...but I do know this - I can drink it!

Categories: