TODAY!

You probably already saw it on facebook. OH WELL...

...what you didn't see was our ridiculous "outtake" photo where we both look semi-ridiculous.

HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!  I am off to work in 15 minutes and am crossing my fingers that the curtain rod I spray painted for Shea's room will be dry before I have to go. haha.  It says 10 minutes or less...I am getting excited for this room to come together!

Oh if any of you ladies (amber/angela) randomly see/hear of a cheap ($25 or less) toddler bed anywhere that can be taken apart for transport in a car, please let me know :)  No mattress is needed (but will take if there is one!).

a day of make!

I have been in a crazy get projects done mood!


Since the weather was nice for two days, I knew I had to get some painting done.  I'm having a scrapbooking night for my mom's group on Monday night, and I wanted to at least get these chairs finished before then.  Here are the dining room chairs we inherited with this house.  I love the shape, not so much the color or the gross old fabric.

I took them out and primed them...

And the finished product!  Ok, so I still have to do some touch ups, spray a protective gloss on top, and paint two more of the chairs, but I ran out of paint and happy weather, so this is it for now!  The table still needs another coat too, but at least a table cloth keeps it safe for now.  I love how they look!  Plus I got that cloth for only 2 bucks a yard on sale at Joann's last month!

Then, I FINALLY finished Shea's dresser.  This was left behind at the train house when we lived there.  So I sanded it down last July while we lived there and bought the handles, but it has been without handles and in an unfinished, annoying state since then.  I bought this can of Oops paint at wal-mart.  Its a kind of greeny-yellow, but it was only like 5 bucks and it kind of works with the retro/lots of color theme I'm going for in the kids room (mainly yellows, oranges, and light teal).  It actually looks a lot better in person.  The lamp still needs a shade, and I need to hang up at the picture.  I also put up a shelf and started putting up some other items which have been in a box for a year.  I was waiting to do all this stuff until we painted, but I don't know if that is even going to happen before baby is born, and I'm tired of that crazy room with stuff stuffed every where!  I'll have to take more pictures once I hang up everything and we rearrange more of the furniture.

I also was getting extremely tired of Shea dumping all of his toys in a huge annoying pile every morning.  I've also been reading a lot of books about cycling out toys and keeping interest in them so I don't end up buying new stuff all the time, and Shea doesn't get as bored with things.  I put away probably more than half of his toys into bins up on a shelf - my little toy-store if you will - and just left out a few different types, and even THOSE I condensed.  I sorted out his books too, so he could discover some new ones easier.  He was totally happily playing this morning with different things.  I might still need to put some more away, but its a good start!

The last thing I worked on last night was this!  I made Hailey's first three diapers - all out of materials I was given.  And, I have plenty material to make more.  I have two more cut out to sew together.  These I have to use a cover with though, so I'm going to buy some waterproof fabric to make a few fully leak-proof diapers as well, which will probably be more gender neutral for re-use with other babies (whether that means mine or passing on to someone else, I don't know!).  I don't know why, but it makes me giddy with delight to see these!  Hopefully they work. haha.

Anyway, the sun is coming out!  I have to go to Kingston to meet my co-worker to get her keys from her and then go make copies of them for myself for my boss.  I had to give my keys to another girl...its been kind of annoying juggling them, but at least it will be taken care of today!  We are also going on a big grocery shopping trip tonight after Jeremy gets home - we have like NO food, it is ridiculous.  I am working 28 hours this week, all in the next 4 days!  I don't know how I am still getting so many hours working just weekends, but I'll take it while I can.  I am soooo looking forward to not working anymore in June!  I seriously already feel like my belly cannot stretch any more.  I remember this feeling now...and I still have 8 weeks left and a baby who is going to be getting much bigger!

A Day in the Life of Amber

Little snippets...I started with a to-do list and I've done all the big things, but now I have a headache and I'm procrastinating on the last things.

I keep misspelling words today as I type them.  I might just stop correcting myself because I usually get the correction wrong too.

I laid out in the sun today and dozed!  Mmm!  And I wore my bikini to encourage even tan lines! 

Worked out today and nearly killed myself...

Having tea and the last of the potato-leek soup right now.  I can't decide whether to make more soup..I like it but it's not like OMG, plus it's summer, so maybe not.  I'm also watching Numb3rs.

Found out I for sure didn't get the grant writer job, but I'm not terribly disappointed.

One of my closest friends at the moment just got engaged.  I'm so happy for her, and she wants me to be involved planning her wedding!  I get to see her tomorrow.

A year ago I started getting allergy shots.  Later this month I get retested to see if there is any improvement.  I went in today for my weekly shots and they said "after retesting you'll have to wait after your shots to make sure you don't have a bad allergic reaction, unless nothing has changed" and I said "If nothing has changed, I will no longer be coming for allergy shots" and she smiled and said under her breath "I don't blame you"  =)  But of course I hope things have gotten better.  It's hard to tell when I'm waking up all hours of the night to swallow pills, squirt things up my nose, drink water, sit up, etc.  Becca, are Jeremy's allergies pretty bad?

Joe and I are tentatively planning a trick to Mexico in July!  We were going to go to Spain with his uncle, but that trip got postponed.  We're looking at a few different places and I'll be sure to let you know when/where we plan it!  I wish we could bring Angela along to take pictures...

My house isn't very tidy right now, but it is clean!  Within the last week, the bathrooms have been cleaned, the house has been vacuumed, and the kitchen more or less clean and the laundry done.

Love you all, sorry I am always going in and out of contact!

OH MY GOSH my birthday was last week and I keep forgetting.  Becca got me the teeny tiniest little Vaseline container, she knows I like to use it as chapstick.  I already had a small one in my purse but this one is REALLY tiny!  It's like an inch long!  I kept squealing over it!  Thank you becca!!!!

and while I'm at it, thank you Candice for the terribly sweet and thoughtful card you mailed me!  And Angela for the game I wanted!  It was a great birthday.

Life back on the mainland

The fridge is finally stocked!  There is actually more food in there than in this picture because this was just after my safeway run, I went to costco the next day. :)  I got soymilk (my new obsession) and odwalla (how can a drink be that good?!).  I also got our first watermelon of the season and oh how I have missed watermelon!

So today at 1:30 I got a call from work saying they were going to have to put me on standby.  I was kinda bummed because I got over 12 hours of sleep last night and had only worked two days since coming home from vacation but it turned out to be awesome.  10 minutes after the call I got up and unloaded the dishwasher, started making banana bread, then I cleaned three bathrooms, washed and dried a load of cat hair covered blankets, vacuumed the whole house, mopped the floors, replaced the little plastic things that hold up the shelves in the closet, and started making dinner. 

I would have done yard work but it was nasty and rainy all day long.  At least the grass we planted where our bushes used to be is growing really well!  We weeded, picked out some rocks, and roughed up the dirt and planted some more seed in the bare spots yesterday.

Everytime I sat down today my cats came to cuddle me, it was kinda ridiculous.  I sat a few minutes with Eric and a few more with Eleanor because it is rare she wants to cuddle with me. :) 

I am kinda addicted to my phone, and look at this screen more than I care to admit on a daily basis, so I thought I would share a picture of this small obsession with you. :) I have about a billion photography apps on here and love them all! 

A few mornings ago I made pancakes for Paul and I for breakfast, they were pretty yummy.  I must say I still prefer homemade pancakes but these were a fast tasty treat. :) 

Eric has been attached to me like a magnet since we got home from vacation.  I was super tired before going to work on monday and decided to take a little nap.  I woke up to this sweet face in front of me.  I still had to shower and get ready so I rushed (I had 20 minutes) and got ready then grabbed this lunch of a frappachino, ritz crackers with brie and honey, and some grapes for my lunch on my way to work.  

I got a new tank top at costco and am excited to wear it.  I look slightly obsessed with pink in this picture because of the phone/shirt combination, haha. 

I couldn't find Eric anywhere when I was crafting in the craft room and then I heard a little noise.  This naughty little rascal was playing with his "find" in the closet. 

I love looking through groupon and living social on a regular basis.  Here are some of the things I would do if I had endless money and time wasn't an option. :) 

Two new shirts! 

My new flour container ( I have another new one too about this size and it takes both of them to hold the 25l bs of flour I bought at costco!).  I also got washi tape at Target.  Each little thing was 4 dollars. Normally one roll of washi tape would be 4 dollars or more, usually closer to 5.  So stoked to find a knock off brand at a reasonable price at Target (thanks to my mom who saw it on a blog! ). 

So all in all today ended up being a super productive day.  I didn't have to go to work when I thought I would, but God had other plans.  It felt good to get all the housework done! 

another a quick little post

OK heads up -  My sister and sister-in-law are planning a shower for me in Kirkland on Saturday, June 2nd.  You are all invited of course (I understand, Candice, if you can't make it ;P), but I have no idea what time it will be yet or any details...they only told me the date, ha.  So if you can make it, keep that day open! :D

Yesterday I was able to take a break and enjoy outside for a little bit!  I put the towels out on the line, Shea dug with his shovel and truck in our sand, and I caught up on my reading.  (you'll notice that the date is April 27 in my bible and it is May 3rd now!  I caught up now though, so I'm back on track).  These are my new maternity skinny jeans - I found them at Goodwill for 4 dollars and I love them - they are so comfy and aren't all lose and falling down all the time like my other maternity jeans.  Also nice, they don't have a big old belly band, just some elastic on the front...they're almost more like jeggings I guess, but not quite as tight!

Today I got a lot done!  I finished vacuuming everything, except the sewing room, because I haven't cleaned it yet.  I cleaned the kitchen and prepped dinner (making chicken enchiladas), made all the beds, cleaned the bedrooms, and did general tidying.  I also got my checklists up in the kitchen!  I made this weekly calendar for us so Jeremy can know when I'm working and we can see what is going on.  Its also handy to jot down groceries and other things.  I changed my cleaning checklist which I had up at the old house to fit the new chores here, and updated the color.  Then I made that print on the left just for fun.  It's part of a David Crowder song that both Jeremy and I really like, it says "Surely we can change something".  I wanted something that had to do with how even our mundane actions effect others, to help me remember why keeping to a schedule and being organized is important!

While I was printing things, I found this free print online!  I love it.  I put it in this frame and it will go in the kids room when I start decorating in there.  Yellow and this blue color are definitely Hailey's colors.  Sorry for the flash.  I was too lazy to take a second picture!

Here is the bump pic!  I feel really good today!  Shea is sleeping, so I am thinking I might do a quick workout, but I always hate doing a workout on a day when I feel like I actually look kind of pretty, haha, you know what I mean?  Like why get sweaty and ruin that??  Oh well, I'm sure it will be worth it in the long run.  And I haven't taken a shower yet today anyway.

motivation

Trying to get motivated to finally start working on housework today.  Last two days have been spent doing fun things with Shea, running errands, and working on the church bookkeeping (I've put in close to 6 hours working on that crazy stuff this week, and still have so much more to do!).  Just finished a cup of tea and finally warmed up (I am freezing today for some reason), Pandora station is on and toys are picked up, so maybe I'll get moving now.  

Maybe.

12:33PM:

Alright, we just finished lunch, and here is where I am at:

I've vacuumed about half of the house, but still have the living/dining room and bedrooms left to do.

I also cut my finger really badly while mopping.  Yes, while MOPPING.  I was reaching for the swiffer, which is tucked next to our oven...it was kind of stuck so I was pulling it kind of hard and some how my finger slid across the corner of the drawer beneath the oven.  Blood splattered everywhere!  I didn't take a picture of that, though, ha.  It wouldn't stop bleeding, so I put two band-aids on and then wrapped scotch tape around it too.

a bonus item!  I cleaned my teapot and shined it.  See how shiny it is?  It was really grimey before from being on the stove and getting oil and food splattered on it.

Oh, and Shea asked me to take a picture of him, so here that is as well.  I am feeling more awake now after lunch and getting things done!

The Lawn Challenge

Our move went really well and we are settling into our new house.  I just love our house and the area.  I went for a bike ride to the bank and library earlier and it just felt so peaceful to bike through the quiet streets of brick houses, flowers and trees.  I'll post pictures of the inside of our house later because right now we are getting a weak internet signal from the starbucks across the street and it took a long time to upload these photos.  Tomorrow though our internet gets hooked up, I can't wait!

I wanted to show you pictures of our backyard.  My plan is to take out all the weeds and move the gravel to form a path by the deck.  I feel like its a big challenge, but thankfully our yard isn't very big-so I think I can do it!  I also found out that the city is giving out free compost to its residents next week, so I can use that to help revive the space.  I also borrowed two books from the library about growing a healthy lawn.  So far I have just spent an hour weeding, but I'm going to do a bit more this afternoon.  Whenever I had to do weeding for my mom I hated it, but yesterday I had so much fun!