A Place to Rest My Cankles Tootsies

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With four more weeks of pregnancy to go, I need all the help I can get to stay comfortable. I found this foot stool for $20 at Home Goods yesterday and he was just begging me for some new clothes and a pair of tootsies.

Pretty snazzy, don'tcha think?

I found this fabric remnant the other day at a fancy home dec fabric store and plan on making some pillows with it too. There was about 3 yards on the roll and I got if for $10. Bargain. At first I couldn't decide if the monkey was cute or scary clownish. But, I had seen this fabric a few weeks ago and figured if this was the second time my eye was drawn to it I should buy it.

I unscrewed the legs and put about a 1000 staples around the bottom and screwed the legs back on. Because I refused to measure before I cut, I almost didn't have enough on the right side. Oopsy daisy. Now if I just had some cute trim to put around the bottom...

Eyebrows

Why is it that every time I go for a manicure, pedicure, or in this case an extra special spa day, when I am checking out they always say "You like eyebrow wax?" My response is always the same, "No thank you, I have no eyebrows as it is, if I get them waxed there won't be anything left." I crafted this response a few years ago when I was asked this question and responded "No, thank you" and this tiny little Asian woman returned with "You need!"

Maybe I am blind and I actually do need an eyebrow wax. I wish I did. I watch The Martha Stewart Show. I see Eva Scrivo doing amazing things by just changing a woman's brow shape. But when I look in the mirror I see a hint of a brow that can barely be filled in with a pencil to make it look fuller without looking like I took a crayon to my face.

(Note: last month I realized the brow brush I was using to fluff the aforementioned brows and brush the bare minerals makeup away may have been stripping me of precious eyebrows. It took weeks of inflicting daily pain along with questioning why my brows seemed to be getting ever thinner to realize the thing was to coarse.)

I am open to all sorts of comments and advice in the eyebrow department. So what do you think? (Other than, "It looks like Noah inherited the no eyebrow look from his mama.")
p.s. Can you believe I have been out with the flu for days on end and the first post I can drum up is about eyebrows? Sorry friends, I am still not up to full speed yet. And I have officially reached the most uncomfortable part of pregnancy...the last 5 weeks. I still love being pregnant.

Babymoon

Have you ever heard of a Babymoon? Well, it's something like a honeymoon only you take it before your new little one arrives to relax and rejuvenate with your spouse. I highly recommend this practice! One of the perks of being a meeting planner is that I sometimes get free nights at hotels, nice hotels. We took full advantage of this last Friday night and went to the St. Regis, Washington DC. Here are the details...if you get bored you can go here and pop some virtual bubble wrap instead.

When we checked in, the hotel had this FAO Schwartz teddy bear, chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of sparkling cider waiting for us. I love being spoiled!
The hotel is just a few blocks from the White House so we walked waddled on over after dinner.
I wanted to insert a photo here of my Man all piled up in the enormous bed of our beautiful hotel room so you could see how nice the joint was, but I was afraid it would be more than you girls could handle since he didn't have a shirt on.


Instead, here are some gratuitous shots of our tasty breakfast and my sleepy, sexy husband.
Belgian Waffles with Strawberries, Spinach and Crab Eggs Benedict, and organic coffee, I am a sucker for organic.














A smooch in front of the Washington Monument
We took the Metro to Chinatown for lunch...now I know mass transit is good for the environment and all, but I am so glad I don't have to do this everyday. I have lived outside of DC almost 10 years and have taken Metro about 6 times. Let's just say about 5 of those times there has been a delay or a problem. This day there were up to 30 minute delays because one track was closed for maintenance. Oh, and on the way back Nemo on Ice was just letting out and the platform was packed with families trying to get home. It was better than the day a few years ago when I had to get off the train and on a bus because there was a fire on the train.


Yum, yum Dim Sum at Tony Cheng's for lunch!















We came home less than 24 hours later to a happy boy with two happy parents.
And it doesn't end there! Tomorrow my husband is working from home because I have another ultrasound (they are weekly now) and in the afternoon, I get to use my Christmas gift certificate for a Spa Day...manicure, pedicure, facial and massage! Spoiled Rotten.

Welcome Back NASCAR!

We have missed you and look forward to many great naps with you in the months to come. Ahh, the roar of the engines, the excitement of the crashes and the joy of seeing Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon on the same team! I have always liked both those guys and think they are both great race car drivers. Now maybe all the Gordon haters will relax and enjoy the show. I can't wait to see how Jr. is going to do this year with his new team.

p.s. Not all NASCAR fans look like this, I'm just a good ol' girl from Indiana that loves racing! Oh, and a little people watching is always entertaining.

Play Dates

My friend Katie in Philadelphia just sent me the cutest pictures of her kids at a Valentines play date. I wish I could be that mom that wouldn't mind inviting 50 kids over to my house to sneeze and snot on every toy, make Valentines with markers on my table AND decorate and eat their own cupcakes. What a mess. I don't know if my kids will ever get to have any fun.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kiss your sweetie and enjoy some sweets today!

First Band-Aid

Noah got his first band-aid yesterday for a boo boo. It was super sad when he smashed his little finger in the swivel chair. I couldn't think of a thing to make it feel better other than a little Bactine and a Sesame Street band-aid.

Actually, he did get a band-aid last year, but he was so little I only left it on long enough to stop the bleeding because I was afraid he would eat it!

Just look at the tear stained shirt

Hey, is that Cookie Monster on my finger?

Freecycle Love

Do you Freecycle? If you don't, or have never heard of it, lemme give you a little tutorial.

It's kind of like Craigslist, only everything is free and in your neighborhood. You list things you want to give away and people respond to you by email. You can arrange to meet the person to make the drop if you don't want them coming to your house. Or if you're lazy, like me, you give them your address and leave the item on the front porch for pick up.

This has been one of the best ways for us to release clutter. Especially all that stuff we don't use, but is too good to throw out. We send loads of stuff to charity every month, but Freecycle is another great way to bless your neighbors and yourself (by making room!)

Those frumpy overhead lights from the post below are on my porch right now awaiting pick up by their new owner. One mans trash truly is another mans treasure.

Now get to Freecycling...or if you already use this great recycling program, let me know the last item you Freecycled, I am very curious about such things.

Not Bad for $14 Bucks

I had to smile when I read The Nester's post today about her ugly chandelier because I had a similar post in mind for today, and since she is one of my favorite creative Blog girls, I like thinking we have things in common.

We (my husband and I, not The Nester) were on a Costco date night last Friday (don't laugh, we actually enjoy going to Costco together) when I spotted a two pack of overhead light fixtures for $14. I immediately had visions of some pretty ugly overheads in our basement that could use a $14 makeover. I know the pictures are bad, but I'm pregnant and tired so this is as good as it gets for today.

Functional, but frumpy

Much better

I love watching my Man being handy

New girls

Clean Up Your Toys, Please

Happy Thursday to ya!

Today is My Loves Birthday!

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. I love celebrating the day My Love was born! He is a far better husband than I am a wife. He tolerates my crabby moments, spoils me rotten, and he loves and cares for his family like no other man I know. I respect him for his commitment to us, and more importantly to the Lord.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. Jeremiah 17:7

It's 9 a.m. and we already talked him into opening his birthday present. I have a doctors appointment today so he is working from home. It's a real treat to have him home on his birthday, we beg him to stay home with us all the time!






A Geman cuckoo clock


I know he liked it because he hung it up immediately, yeah!


My Love asked me last week if I liked grandfather clocks, I said well that depends...if you won it at the Martinsville race I would LOVE it! Otherwise, I don't think we have a place for one. My guy likes clocks. Happy Birthday Love!

Toile Around the World, or the Living Room

I have had this fabric in a bag for over 2 years...I bought it because I loved it, originally planning to make curtains. Well, there wasn't enough to make curtains. And, truth be known, I found these fine tab top sailcloth curtains at Ross along with the fleur-de-lis curtain rods and it was a done deal. We also have these ugly, yet functional, bookcases I wanted to spruce up. So, after some serious motivation from two of my favorite blogs, The Nester (queen of window mistreatreatment!) and Notes from a Cottage Industry (she papered the back of her bookcase with pages from a vintage book) the fabulous toile from a few years ago came out of the bag. With some help from Stanleah, a handful of upholstery tacks, and my muscle man husband both of these jobs were done in less time than it would take to sew one curtain.

I almost forgot to take the before photo

Now doesn't that look much better?! I love it and now Muscle Man wants to paint these bookcases, which is FINE with me :)

Before

Tah-Dah!

I have a question for you...I read recently that Living Rooms are on their way "out" when it comes to housing trends, along with stainless steel appliances (which I am actually very happy about since we are about to replace some kitchen appliances and S.S. is hundreds more) Oh yeah, the question....how often do you use your living room?

Hula Your Bed

I have had these grass skirts in a closet for at least 3 years. I knew I wanted to use them as a bed skirt, but never got around to getting the job done.

Naked Bed

Properly Dressed

It's Ain't Pretty Under Here

All I did was grab Stanleah (see post below if you don't know her) and slap those bad boys right to the bottom of the box spring. Then I gave them a hair cut to the perfect length. If a woman with a belly as big as mine can do this, anyone can.

A Girl and Her Gun

Last week, my smokin' hot husband took me on over to Sears to buy a staple gun. It's my new favorite thing. I know some girls like their glue guns, but I make a mess with hot glue and rarely get the results I am looking for. I had several jobs in mind that justified the purchase and we even popped for the fully loaded electric version...he spoils me and I love it. As for the black eclipse at the bottom of the photo, it's my 7 month pregnant belly. I saw another prego that accidentally got her belly in a picture and I was absolutely amazed at how easy this was to do, without trying.

Here she is in all her glory...I think I will call her Stanleah

Yee Haw, Let's Blog!

I never thought I would be blogging, but here I am and looking forward to a jolly good time.

It started a few weeks ago when I ran across Like Merchant Ships and found myself reading her blog for 30 minutes and following some of the links to other blogs. Which is how I found The Nester who taught me how to mistreat my windows...I will post more on that tomorrow, and her sister Chatting at the Sky who inspired us to paint our kitchen cabinets (which may take months to come to fruition, but I will definitely get back to ya with photos when it's done.)

And while I'm giving shout outs on my first ever blog post, I should mention that one of the first blogs I ever read was from my friend Debbie who is so great about posting and keeping it real...no fluff, just what is on her mind.

Well, the Super Bowl is almost over and so ends my first post. How fun is this?!