Saturday, August 29, 2009

All grown up. Sort of.

aug - home craziness 028

How I got him to sit still for a first-day-of-school (ie Mother’s Day Out), I’ll never know.  But seriously, how cute is he?!

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He even wanted to carry his own bag into school.  (That only lasted about 10 steps – it was a little heavy, and as big as he is!)

And just look what was waiting for him after his first day was over:

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More on our whirlwind Music City extravaganza with Seth and Nonna, coming soon!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Meet My Peeps: The O’Neil Updater

I debated whether to feature MaryBeth or Beth first, since the roles they play in my life are intertwined (a story for another day)….but since I told you a little bit about MaryBeth here, I decided Beth would come first in my series.  Not to mention I want to send as many people over to Beth’s neck of the blogworld ASAP, so y’all can start to bathe her sweet family in some serious prayer.

But we’ll get to that.

First, just how gorgeous is this girl?

Beth Dan mothers day

That’s her and her hubby Daniel this past Mother’s Day.  Aren’t they cute?

But listen to me – starting this post off on a shallow note, and Beth is anything but shallow.  In fact, she is one the most genuine souls I think I’ve ever had the gift of knowing.

When I first met Beth at a Superbowl party this past February, I was intimidated by her.  She was stunningly beautiful and carried her (at the time) 8-month-pregnant belly with a grace that made me and my (at the time) 9-week-pregnant belly very childishly jealous.   I think I allowed my jealousy and intimidation cast a poor (and unfair) light on Beth, because I truly thought that she would be someone I’d have to tolerate being in small group fellowship with; it never once occurred to me that we might actually become friends.

Fast forward four months.

Insert a mental picture of me eating a heaping portion of humble pie.

I can’t imagine my life without her.

You see, Beth chipped away my last defense (that she probably didn’t even know existed) when she wrote this with such sweet humility.  Yeah.  Remember that?  This is her.

girlsnight_001

And after that encounter, there was really no period of transition.  You see, by the time we lost Duncan, Beth-the-Mommy was facing her own baby heartache, and it drew us together in an eternal way.  (Well, that and a shared love for pedicures and carbs!)

Interpeeps, meet Presley:

presley april close up

Isn’t she the yummiest thing you’ve seen in a sweet forever?  Beth and I have already decided: Presley is Seth’s fiancee.  I love her, Beth loves Seth….we interchange mothering duties with our children seamlessly, so we figure we’d make pretty decent co-grandmas someday.

aug - home craziness 016 Seth and Beth making cookies this past weekend

But I digress.  I was talking about Presley.

We have known for a while that Presley had a heart murmur.  What we didn’t anticipate was that Presley’s heart murmur wouldn’t get better, and that she would be facing open heart surgery at only six months of age.

In two weeks, actually.

On September 9, a team of surgeons is going to take that sweet little girl away from her mommy and they are going to put her to sleep and they are going to cut her tiny chest open and they are going to fix the hole in her heart.

And that is a good thing.  The fixing.

But this process?  It hurts, so much.  It hurts me in a general way, because I’m a mom.  But because Beth is like a sister to me – because I have held that little 10 lb. baby in my arms and fed her carrots and picked out clothes for her – I hurt in a way that I have never hurt before.

Beth is such a good writer; if you take the time to read back through her most recent blog entries, you will see the breaking heart of a mother who is bravely choosing to trust her Father to heal her daughter.  I encourage you to do so, and to get to know this courageous woman who is so special to me.

Please keep Beth, her husband Daniel, their son Triston, and sweet Presley in your prayers in the coming weeks.

dan triston

pres triston

*** *** *** *** ***

And because I want to sing the praises of Lisa Leonard just one more time, as well as share just how beautiful this is….

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I arranged to have the girls from our small group purchase this necklace for Beth, and Lisa was sweet enough to rush the order so that Beth could have it in time for Presley’s surgery.  I wanted her to have a tangible thing to hold on to if we aren’t all there to hold her hand.

Beth, we love you!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Malfunction

So, all my promises about the blogs to come this week may have been slightly premature.

Sunday night, we had a Skype conversation go awry: Seth got a little too excited and, ahem, ripped the zero key and the space bar off of my keyboard.

Needless to say, all forms of Internet communication are PAINFULLY slow until an emergency call can be placed to Dell.  (You don’t even want to know how long it is taking me to type this post…)

Be well, Interpeeps.  See you on the flip side!

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Quirky, but crisp

Do you know one of my absolutely favorite things to do?

IRON.

I love it.  I calms me.  It relaxes me.  It gives me a satisfying high like few other things in my life.

It has always been this way.  Since I was old enough to prove myself responsible with certain small appliances, I have loved to iron.

I can remember standing in my grandparent’s basement, watching Disney’s Robinhood, pressing and  folding cloth diapers over and over and over.  Humming along with Little John’s “oodalolly,  oodalolly, golly what a day!,” hot iron in hand, I was content with my mindless task.

I think that even at the young, innocent age of eight, I took pleasure in seeing something so dishevled (say, a wrinkled dishtowel or handkerchief) turn into something so pristine.  Admit it – even if you hate ironing, isn’t there something therapeutic about running your hand over a freshly pressed piece of linen, nary a crease in sight?

Because the task itself is mindless, I tend to let my thoughts wander, and seem to get some of my best praying and soul searching done when I’m behind the ironing board.  When I’m feeling anxious about something, I tackle an especially tricky job – like  a fitted sheet.  (I’m serious!)  Even if my problem isn’t any closer to being “figured out” by the time I’m done ironing, at least I will have blown off a little steam (I promise, that pun was NOT intended) and I feel in control.

iron

How about you?  Is there any household chore that most people despise that you actually enjoy?  I’d love for you to share your “quirks” with us!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Sloppy Seconds

So.

How important is the second anniversary anyways?

Not very?  Okay, good.

Because today is my second anniversary as The Writer Chic, and I didn’t plan anything special for you.  Or me,  for that matter.

But you know?  I guess that is okay.  I may be all about the drama over here, but not so much the fanfare.  Just a pretty steady diet of the same ol’ same ol’ stuff – my rambliness, cute pictures of Seth, the occasional meme (though I haven’t done one of those all year, I don’t think),  and you-have-t0-try-this snack recommendations as the mood may strike.  And you guys keep coming back,after 2 whole years and 363 posts, so I guess you don’t mind what’s on the “menu.”

I promise that next week will hold:

  • master bedroom pictures – 95% complete and ready for fall
  • new outdoor lighting and kitchen and dining room chandelier pictures
  • Seth’s first day of “school” (aka Mothers’ Day Out)
  • Nonna comes to the big Music City
  • A special tribute to our Duncan, as my c-section date comes and goes on the 27th

And in honor of my second blogiversary, I’m going to wish you all a great weekend, and go have a chocolate chip cookie!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Meet My Peeps: Antique Mommy

Meet My Peeps is a series written in order to introduce my readers to the fantastic writers  and friends the makeup my blog roll.

One of the “dual-edged swords” of the phenomenon that is blogging is link-hopping.

You know, where you wind up on a blog you enjoy, and then browse through that blogger’s blog roll, and then a commenter on that blogger’s post intrigues you, so you jump over to her blog, and before you know it, you are no where near where you began, and you just may found out that you like the last blogger even better than the first.

I’m pretty sure that is how I found Antique Mommy.

butterflyandornament

She is older than I, and I love that.  I learn from her years of experience – whether it be in motherhood, Christianity, writing.  I see bits of myself in her stories – who I already am, and who I’d like to become.

Mommy to one adorable Sean, she writes in a very relatable, humble, humorous, and thought-provoking manner.

Whether spinning a not-as-tall-as-you’d-think tale of her in-law’s hometown of Tuna, capturing a poignant moment of Sean’s babyhood, or traveling back in time to the young love of high school (my favorite Antique Mommy post EVER!), she manages to speak through the keyboard as if it’s just you and her sitting at the kitchen table sharing a story and a cup of coffee.

I know that you will love her as much as I do.

Cookie Monster

mmm latas cookies are yummy

You wouldn’t even know he woke up with a summer cold this morning.

And really, who doesn’t want a good chocolate chip cookie (or two, as the case may be) when you’re feeling a  little under the weather.

Thank you to Karen, my “nestie of the week,” for such a yummy treat to brighten our day!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Three Months

I had so much that I wanted to say this month – month being “number three,” not necessarily “month of August.”

But, as it has the habit of doing, life got in the way of the post I wanted to write.

Here I sit, three months since Duncan left the safe haven of my womb.   One week and one day away from the scheduled date of my second c-section.  August – a month full of watching friend after friend after friend give birth to healthy 7, 8, and 9 lb. babies. (They are all cute, by the way, and I love them.)

But I’m still taken aback by the number of heartbreaking reminders in this third month:

~ Asking Jim if he wants caffeinated or decaffeinated Pepsi with dinner, just to discover that there is still only case after case of decaffeinated soda in the pantry.

~ Pulling back the blanket on a friend’s newborn to admire his tiny toes, only to find him wearing the exact same onesie I purchased to bring Duncan home in.  (It was the one thing I wasn’t able to bring myself to return to Gymboree.)

~ Needing to buy a fresh box of tampons instead of nursing pads.

Copy of 101_9077

Dearest Duncan,

Little one, Mommy’s heart is so heavy tonight, for reasons that you already know.  I’m jealous that you are enjoying the wonders of heaven while I’m stuck down here dealing with…well, The Mess.

I have to admit, I’m glad that you are not here to see the chaos.  There is a lot of confusion and fear and sadness in our family right now, huh?  I’m glad that I’m not about to birth you into the craziness.  Daddy and Setheroni need all the attention and love that I have right now.

So, even though I haven’t been able to devote to you the time I wanted in this, your third month, please know that I think of you every day.  I am so glad that  God chose me to be your mommy.  I am so glad that I got to carry you next to my heart for the six months that I did.  I am so glad that I will see you again some day.

Sweet boy, I miss you.

Mommy

On a coordinating tangent…

I know that so many out in blogland  are awaiting the release of Selah’s new album You Deliver Me (only 5 more days!).  Of course, one of the most powerful  songs on the album is undoubtedly I Will Carry You (Audrey’s Song).  If you aren’t familiar with Angie, Todd, and Audrey’s story (first of all, how is that possible?!), go here – that will take you to Angie’s blog posts from April 2008 (the days leading up to and following the birth and homegoing of her fourth daughter).

Anyways – the personal video of Angie and her family that I’ve included below is a loving picture of the heart of a mother who says hello only to say goodbye.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Round and Round

seth carousel

Nothing much beats a Saturday at the zoo with your grandpa and a merry-go-round.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Meet My Peeps: Linda (aka MIL)

It absolutely breaks my heart to hear about girls who don’t like – or even go as far as to admit that they despise – their mothers-in-law.  I know the reasons for these less than ideal dynamics are as vast as the sky, and by posting this, it is not my intent at all to make you (whether you are the mother-in-law or the daughter-in-law in that relationship) feel badly.

But I just have to brag on my mother-in-law for a minute.

I hit the MIL jackpot, and there is not enough space in Blogger for me to adequately list all the things I love about her.  She is the most selfless woman I think I’ve ever met.  When we me in 2005, I think I would have described her as timid, but over the years, I realize now that she is just beautifully meek.

She is so observant of people’s likes and dislikes, and always is looking for ways to let you know that you are loved.

For example, look what arrived in the mail this morning:

 

she really really loves me 

If you recall, I’ve told you before that Linda  keeps the best snacks on hand, and I totally blame her  for my addiction to the Chocolate Crunch ‘N Munch.  (My love affair with the Baby Ruth began long before I met her, so that one is all on me!)

She began picking up the fine literature of People, Star, and US Weekly for me when I was on bedrest with Seth.  The content rarely changes – you know what I mean – but I still love having these on hand for a little mindless reading.

And finally….that little glass jar of goodness on the left.

I’m sure Big Mama and Mandie could school  me in the ways of a good salsa, being Texans and all, but…..um, yeah.  This stuff could hold its own against any salsa north or south of the border.  Once you taste Linda’s homemade garden fresh salsa….anything else is marginal at best.

So, even though she isn’t a blogger, I thought it only fitting to first introduce you to one of the very most important women in my life.

And now I’m going  to go eat Crunch ‘N Munch and read all about the Bachelorette drama!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Meet my Peeps: An Introduction

Welcome to my new series!

I’m really excited about this, and actually, this new venture is the silver lining of the whole Blogger-ate-my-post-feeder issue.

I had been planning on doing a generic “here is my blog roll” post; since I read so many, I no longer keep my list on my sidebar.  Just to drive some traffic to some of my favorite blogs, and to give my readers an idea of the various bloggy circles I run in as The Writer Chic.  (Sidebar: I wish I could speak of myself in third-person acronym sometimes, but I type it – TWC – and all I see is The Weather Channel.  Argh.)

Anyway, after Blogger ate my feed, I began to reinstall my favorite blogs in Google Reader.  (My new BFF,  by the way, once I spent an inordinate amount of time sorting blogs into various categories and renaming them to include both blog title and author name.  Yes, I’m that Type-A.)  As I reinstalled each blog, I really thought about why I take time to read each of these ladies, and what role they play in my life, and what they mean to me.

So……I’m going to introduce them to you.  Once a week – I couldn’t commit to a specific day, because sometimes, I’ll just need to blog an adorable picture of Seth or another great Home  Goods find – I will be writing a “spotlight” post on one of the bloggers that I read each day.

If it is a personal girlfriend with a public blog, I will tell you a bit about her, why I think her blog is worthy of my (and your) time, and share a memory of her.

If  it is a home decor blogger, I’ll try to pare down her posts to spotlight a few of my favorites and show you just why, of all the decorating blogs out there, she made it onto my list.  (Listen to  me – as if my opinion ranks up there with The New York Times bestseller people…)

And if it is a Blogging Blogger – a jack-of-all-trades, if you will – I will try to hone in on the essence of  their writing and the passion of their hearts and home.

I hope that you will enjoy this journey through my Blogland!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

It has been requested….

….that I post something – anything! – so that the evil eye gets bumped down the page.

I have a couple posts in the works,  but here is a little Wordless Wednesday to hold you over….and make the eye go bye-bye!

couch smile

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

What the heck happened?!?

See this?

evil eye

That is the proverbial “evil eye.”

I’m giving it to Blogger.

Why?

Because Blogger decided to delete my blog list.  So, I no longer get the updates of all my favorite blogs dumped into a handy-dandy feeder.

I even went as far as to go to some of the blogs I read to see if my photo was still in their “follower” list.   Nope.

So….here’s what I need you to do.

If you know I read your blog, I need you to leave a comment so I can find my way back to you, Hans and Gretel style, and put you in Google Reader (which appears to be more reliable than my Blogger feed).

Stupid,wonderful, I hate-you-but-can’t-live-without-you technology.

He doesn’t quite understand that it’s a twofold process

I understand that they make it hard to look away, in a bad car wreck sort of way.

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But when one takes the time to do THIS:

zoo and misc 034 

TV watching is unacceptable.

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So, we worked on learning how the vacuum cleaner attachments work:

zoo and misc 036

Granted, it takes longer when you put the peanuts into the hose one at a time, but the job gets done.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Because I owe you…or somebody

This is embarrassing to admit.

Back in February, my friend Hillary did a Pay it Forward post.

She wrote:

A while back, let's just say before Christmas, Becky did a Pay it Forward post.  She asked 3 people to play along and accept a small gift from her and then she asked those people to then pay it forward on their blogs.

Well, I jumped at the chance to play along, but it seems as if I only hopped on board to receive and not to give!  Now, I'm giving back.  It's only taken me 3 months.

If you would like a small gift from me with the responsibility of paying it forward to at least three other people, then be one of the first 5 people to leave a comment in the comment section and make sure I have your e-mail address. (I'm upping the ante a bit since I was a slacker-rific participant.)

Well, today, all I have to say is….

…what she said.

I was one of those who benefitted from Hillary’s pay it forward – I received these darling little magnets that I keep on our family calendar to remind me of Hillary every day.

And then, well, life got crazy, and we got robbed, and Duncan died, and I just plain didn’t feel like paying anything forward.  Truth be told, all I felt that I had to give wasn’t what anyone would want in the first place.  So about six months passed (feel better about your three, Hil?), and I had yet to pay it forward as I’d promised.

But today….my head is a little less foggy and my heart is a little less heavy and my little stash of “I’m saving this to eventually use in my Pay It Forward post” treats has grown enough to finally post.

So….what Hillary said: If you would like a small gift from me with the responsibility of paying it forward to at least three other people, then be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment in the comment section and make sure I have your e-mail address, so that I can get in touch for your real address.

=)

Sunday, August 9, 2009

What (in)courages me?

Whew.

Isn’t that a loaded question?

As I sit here on a beautiful Sunday morning, home sick from church, I’m overwhelmed by this: there is an enormous place in my heart filled up by women I don’t “know,” per se, but whom my soul recognized in an instant.

And that is what (in)courages me most, in the season of life that I am in.

Let me see if I can explain…..

I didn’t know what a blog was until I had a reason to start my own.  My only intention was to have a place where I could easily convey my pregnancy updates to concerned family and friends.  And for the longest time, that is all it was.  But by the time my “modified bedrest” turned into “hospitalized bedrest" and I had ample time on my hands to do nothing but write, I found that this blog became a place for me to just be.  To talk about my feelings and dreams and hopes and fears and memories and, in general, my take on my everyday life.

I love going back to earlier blog posts and reading my words – reliving the moments.  And when I realized that I would keep writing even if no one else ever came back to check on me,  I knew that I had reached a critical point in the life of any blogger: write first for oneself.

But.

(and isn’t there always a “but”?)

As I began to receive more and more comments on my ramblings, and as I began to visit the blogs of those comments, and then the blogs of their commenters, and so on and so forth….the “blogosphere” became a wonderland of people and places and lives I was able to experience in a way that only the worldwide web could deliver.

It was nothing but pure fun to peek inside other peoples’ homes, or to sigh over the adorableness of their children, or to get their take on current parenting trends – while remaining, for the most part, anonymous.

But nothing could have prepared me for the blessing in store when these “anonymous” relationships became REAL.  When a dot com became a person, with a real name (not just a url) and a real face and, in many cases, a real phone number – that I could dial!  Women my age, and older, and younger, and women who live here in Nashville, or over in North Carolina, or Oregon, or Arkansas, or California, and women who have children, and women who don’t, and women who can decorate and those who can’t, or cook, or craft, or thrift…..women who practice their faith the way I do, and those who don’t; women who are just like me, and women who aren’t…..

I can’t believe how blessed my life has been through the world of blogging.  I am doing a horrendous job of adequately portraying it, I know.  So, I’ll try to wrap it up.

What (in)courages me?

Community.  A place to be with others where I can just be ME.

And that is why I’m so excited about www.incourage.me.  It is a place where so many of us who are already friends can go hang out and just be.

Be ourselves.

Be witty.

Be real.

Be encouraged.

incourage invite

Are you (in)?

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Blink. Blink. Blink.

It’s like the errant fly.

Or the lone mosquito that sneaks in through the screen door.

You try to ignore it.  Try to focus on anything but it.  But in reality, you’re only prolonging the inevitable.

You know that the only way to silence it is to address it head on.

Be still, you dreaded blinking cursor.

I’m trying.  Truly.

And maybe that is the problem.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Master Bedroom: Questions Answered

I am so happy that so many people popped over from Nesting Place to check out my bedroom.  Please come back and visit often, but let me make it perfectly clear – this is not a home decor blog.  This is a “this-is-my-life-and-digital-scrapbook/journal-so-one-day-you’ll-see-curtains-and-the-next-you’ll-read-about-my-numerous-miscarriages/stillbirth-and-then-I’ll-make-you-watch-cute-videos-of-Seth” blog.

Just so we’re clear.

Now, onto your questions.

Michelle wanted to know “doesn’t the top of the fabric pop up” when you do the clip-and-poof mistreatment.  Why, yes, Michelle.  Yes, it does.  If you look closely, you can see the unfinished edge of the fabric at the top of my poofs.  I bought iron-on hemming tape for this very reason – initially, I only hung these up just to see how they’d look.  But once I got them up, and realized that you had to look very, very closely at the curtain to see the edge…I was all like “Nester says, ‘it doesn’t have to be perfect…’ so this is close enough for me!”

home improvements 003_thumb[12][1]

Di, Gena, Jennifer, and Sabrina all wanted to know the paint color on the wall.

Sigh.  I’m pathetic. I came to my beautiful wall color via Nester, too.  (I promise.  I do have my own  brain.)

paint swatch

The exact color is Sherwin Williams’ Rainwashed (the second from the top). And the only reason I even found this color in the first place was because I had all of 10 minutes to select what color each room in our house would be.  See, I HATE to paint, more than almost anything else in the world.  So when Jim agreed to have a professional painter come in to overhaul each room in our new Nashville home, I didn’t hesitate.  My only requirements were that I had to select Sherwin Williams paint, and I had to do it lickety-split.

Eek.  When all this happened, I was living without Jim (he was already in TN; I was still in OH), solo parenting Seth, recovering from the miscarriage of our twins, packing up our house, transferring my accounts at work….I didn’t have time to truly analyze paint colors.

So, I pretty much looked up what that Nester gal was using, looked at the appropriate swatches in person to make sure she had good taste (waste of time; of course she does), and called it a day.

I couldn’t quite get Jim sold on Emily’s Oyster Bay, but Rainwashed is just one swatch over in the color wheel.  And yes, my kitchen and dining room are Tobacco Road, and my living room is Svelte Sage.  And yes, they look as fabulous in my house as they do in Nester’s.  And if she told me to paint my whole house Framboise, I would.  (That’s a questionable shade of purple, by the way.)

But I have to take credit for his one…..

Our master bath, which, mind you, was painted in November, is SW’s Halcyon Green.

Yes, the same Halcyon Green that Nester chose to paint her gorgeous armoire.

Nester armoire

But I’m just shallow enough to remind you: I used it first.

Maybe we do share a brain after all.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Our retreat

Oh, that Nester gal.  She does get me thinking.  I have to admit, she has influenced me in more ways than one – all good, mind you – and as completely and utterly corny as it sounds…..my life is different because of her blog.

I don’t know if she listed these in order of offense, but if she did, then the Nester has admitted to us that her number one decorating mistake was failing to make her master bedroom a priority.

Those are some pretty strong words, coming from a home style maven like she.  So, I took note.   After all, when her final results turn out looking like this, you tend to listen to her.  And seriously?  When she takes the time to write a manual on how to get stunning results for $200 or less….well, how do you come up with an excuse to put off this room any longer?

So, with the Nester holding my virtual hand, and with my browser windows open to this post and this post, I began.

Here is a glimpse of the bedding:

home improvements 005

All the linens on our bed, except for our Nautica duvet, came from Home Goods and cost less than $60 for a queen sheet set, extra white pillowcases, quilted pillow shams, and two new pillows.

The paisley print in the middle is what the sheet set sports, and the Nautica duvet that sits at the foot of the bed is that taupe-y/khaki/tan color in the front print.

Once the linens were chosen, I felt the freedom to begin looking for window treatments.

Even with how easy our dear Nester gal makes her mistreatments seem, I was still scared to attempt them myself, so I continued to waste my time look diligently for pre-made curtains.

No surprise that I didn’t find any that I liked, let alone loved.

So, on a whim, I dragged my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law and Seth to JoAnn’s, and headed to the interior fabrics.

Wouldn’t you know it?  I found a decorator fabric that I adored that would make perfect drapes.  And wouldn’t you know it?  The fabric was $39/yd.  And wouldn’t you know it?  I needed between 10-12 yards.  People, there was NO WAY THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN that I could justify that cost to Jim.  Especially since I don’t sew, so I was already going to have to sell him on the whole mistreatment concept anyways.

I wandered forlornly to the clearance section, browsing quickly over the fabrics that need no explanation for their presence in the cheap bin.

And then.

Golden light shone down onto a bolt of  gorgeous material.

And wouldn’t you know it?  It, too, was $39/yd.  Le sigh.

BUT.

It was $39/yd. marked down to $15, marked down to $6.

And that day they were having a green tag 50% off sale.

My fabric was only $3/yd.!!!  At this point, I wished the Nester were holding my REAL hand so that we could have done a little booty-shaking happy dance around the cutting table.

Despite the fact that the sales associate cut my fabric wrong (ahem, ma’am, have you not heard the phrase “measure twice, cut once?”), causing me to drive my posse 80 miles round trip out of the way to another JoAnn’s to pick up the last 3 yards I needed, I returned home that day with the perfect dressing for my two master bedroom windows.

I was on such a high from my fabric find, I decided to ride the confidence wave and get right at clipping-and-poofing.

home improvements 003

I don’t have trim yet that I love, so the edges are still raw and unfinished.  But you can hardly tell.

home improvements 004

The inner edge kind of folds in on itself, and the outer edge…well, see for yourself how great that looks:

home improvements 002

What’s that you say?  What is that pretty egg print?

Why, it’s more Nester inspiration, of course!

Remember when I won the L. Herbert prints from the Nester herself back in February?

Well, here they are between my beautifully imperfect windows:

home improvements 001

I LOVE how our room is coming together.  It’s not 100% done, which is why you are only seeing snippets of the finished product.  But I’m picking up some more items very soon, so a full reveal should be coming later this month.

But so far….what do you think?  Would Nester be proud of me?  I sure am!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Unwrap a smile

Isn’t that the Hershey slogan?

I’m borrowing it today.

Today was a very upsetting day for me, for reasons that I’m not at liberty to share, but even in spite of heartache, there were plenty of things that made me smile.

This morning, I realized that this little beauty that I found under the deck on Friday:

weekend fun 010

Turned into this:

smile 003

How it is managing to grow new blooms when it’s no longer in soil….?  I don’t know, but it makes me smile.

Another treat was meeting a new blog reader, Jennifer, and her daughter Evie, for lunch at Panera Bread, and finding that the soup schedule had changed to provide me with Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice soup on a Monday.

In addition, I wandered into the local Pottery Barn to check out their fall pillow covers that had me all atwitter a few weeks ago when my catalog arrived.

I thought that I was going to cave to the temptation of this pillow:

simone pillow PB

…for the vision of fall-ing up our master bedroom in a few weeks.

Instead, I discovered that in person, I much prefer this pillow:

deirdre pillow PB

It’s got the same tone of the aqua/robin egg blue that I needed, with the perfect shade of red/rust that I wanted….and it is $10 cheaper than the first one!  Score!

Then, our final stop of the day was this great bookstore at the mall that has a wonderful children’s area.   Rumor has it that this bookstore is the place to be for story hour.  We’ll have to check that out.

But while Seth did this:

smile 002

I read these:

smile 001

If you’re willing to spend $14 (which, sadly, I wasn’t), I’d recommend either of these books by Peter H. Reynolds.  They are darling….and sure to make you unwrap a smile, too.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

That’s just how we roll

Cruising through our neighboring county…

Enjoying the benefits of a trip to Costco…new diapers and fruit snacks: yea!

And play time in LVISII…

Not a whole lot of “fun” for this family this weekend – lots of errands and chores and yard work and general busy-ness.  But sometimes you just have to devote a weekend to gettin’ ‘er done, you know?

By the way, anyone want to fill me in on how it got to be August already?  Where did that come from?