Summer, hot weather, and a day off work. :)

I have probably said this multiple times, but Eric is such a cuddler.  Every single morning as of late when he hears me wake up he runs to the bedroom and hops on the bed to chill with me for about half an hour while I catch up on all my blogs, facebook, instagram and all the random stuff I do on my phone in the morning.  Then we get up together, I go feed him, rub his belly, and he is a happy camper.  We have our routine and I love it.  He is my baby till I have a real one and he loves it. :) 

This is the awesome view of Mt. Rainier I have from the windows at work, I am so spoiled!  A friend actually took this picture and I stole it from her facebook page.  I was wayyyy too busy this night to be taking pictures. :)  

Last week was nurses week.  There were a few of these funny e cards making their way around the interwebs.  Excuse the language on it but I laughed out loud when I read it.  It's so true, there is absolutely nothing glamorous about nursing. 

And again, Eric.  This boy knows what I need though.  Sometimes I am tired and not wanting to go to work and his sweet face comes naps with me, or today (bottom left picture) I got nauseous all the sudden and Eric appeared and plopped down on the couch within a minute to snuggle me. :)  Sweet boy. 

Paul and I had a busy day today (Paul even more than me).  Paul got up at 5 to go shooting in the mountain with some friends.  At 11 we went swimming, then subway, then the library, then home to grab the laptop and Kathy's mothers day present.  Then we went to Paul's grandparents visit and show them a slideshow of our vacation to Maui.  It was so good to see them and chat with them.  Then we went to starbucks to pick up a coffee for Kathy and drove to her house to give her her gifts.  She so lovingly fed us scones with fresh strawberries and we had a nice little chat out on the deck in the sunshine, it was wonderful. :)  Oh and we also went to Carpenito brothers to pick out some garden stuff.  No stuff from seed this year, we are kinda late (and lazy).  I also got a paper that quotes river rock prices for u-haul and delivery so I am going to measure the square feet I need for the river rock hopefully tomorrow so we can get that ordered and get our back yard looking more fabulous.  

The only things in the garden this year are beets, peas, and tomatoes.  Low maintenance and awesome.  Paul helped me weed that bed (we had rototilled it earlier this year and it had grown a bunch of baby weeds).  Paul mowed the lawn while I finished up the bed, I swept the porch while he swept the front yard, and he finished sweeping and weeding the front yard and cleaning the front windows while I made us dinner of mac and cheese (the organic annies kind is awesome!) and a fresh fruit salad. We ate outside on our little blanket and it was awesome until the mosquitoes started attacking us and we went inside.  

I plan on doing a ton of yard work this weekend if I don't end up going down and visiting my grandparents. My mom is there right now but my grandma is kinda sick and she is the caretaker for my grandpa, so I may go down to help out if things don't start looking better soon.  Please pray for them both and my mom as she helps takes care of them and takes them to Dr. appts!  

Why hello 80 degree weather, I have missed you!

I have been meaning to blog for what seems like forever, but everytime I was going to sit down and do it I would clean the kitchen, do yardwork, or clean the house.  They always seemed to win, but not today.  I am skipping vacuuming and blogging, then taking a nap and then I will get ready for work. :)  

This morning Eric came and snuggled me even though his daddy was already awake downstairs, it's our little morning routine now and I love it!   I have been saying I am going to back up my computer/pictures for a long time...like every time I think my computer is going to crash on me.  Turns out I hadn't backed it up since November 2010 and I had 7,000 pictures to back up.  An hour later and I think I have all my important files and documents saved. I really need to splurge and get a flickr account so they are saved online.  If my harddrive died I would be so so so so sad!  I laid outside and ate lunch today in one of our zero gravity (super comfortable) chairs and it was amazing.  I actually got too warm, I love that feeling!  Then I came inside and had soy milk and a cake pop for dessert. Yum, yum. 

These pictures are really out of order, but oh well.  Here is Eleanor begging for Pho, I am pretty sure a cat wouldnt like a hot noodly soup but it smells kinda fishy so she was super interested! 

I got a new punch at JoAnnes this week for 50% off and made this cute little banner for my craft room.  I love sewing paper! 

Becca I am off on your baby shower weekend!  I was pretty stoked when I found that out. :) Eleanor is hiding with me while I read my Bible. :) 

I have been in the organization/cleaning mood lately.  All this sunshine puts me in an awesome mood and I get excited to get things done.  I reorganized the guest room closet because all my childhood toys weren't fitting in their bin and I had decorations just sitting out.  So more containers and labels made me one happy girl!   

All my adorable tapes all lined up in my craft room drawer make me so so so happy. 

My new punch makes the cutest card.  That punch was made from my wedding invitation. :)  And the right picture is of a game called draw something.  I am addicted!   It is like pictionary but on your phone, so fun! 

Eleanor's new thing is jumping up on the stool while I eat breakfast and wanted to be pet.  I gave in and started petting her ( I dont like to while I am eating) and then I heard a plop.  I looked over and saw Eric like this, someone was a little jealous!!

I have been to Starbucks three times in the last week between 3 and 5 for half price frappichinos, I am kinda addicted!  Oh and I got a new dome lid for my cup and am pretty excited about it. :) 

My baby girl snuggled up between Paul and me, sometimes she can be so adorable! 

After church on Sunday I got these new scissors for half price!  I am so excited to have fabric scissors that cut fabric like butter. :) 

I spent four hours doing yard work this day and was sore for 3 days afterward, I limped around the hospital and looked really pathetic.  I think it was a pulled muscle but I am all better now!  Our lawn is starting to look amazing and I am loving it.  We have lots of big plans for the yard this summer and I can't wait to show you girls as I finish each project! 

Eric is my faithful buddy in the craft room.  If I am blogging, crafting, reading, cleaning, putting receipts away he is always right by my side, it's fun to have someone here with me! 

Making lunches in the summer is a lot of work.  I like as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible so I am constantly washing, chopping, and dividing up fruits and vegetables.  I also like to eat more sandwiches, which I can't make in advance, so lunch prep is messier and takes longer, but the food tastes oh so good. 

I meant to go get a free cinnamon roll this week and never got around to it. Sad sad day! 

This is what I came out to one night when Paul and I were in the room getting ready for  bed.  We usually lock them out till one of us is laying in bed because we want to make sure Eric doesn't pee on it.  They were both staring intently at the door!   Oh and that cake is the start to CAKE POPS!

Baby boy was desperate for cuddles and while I held and pet him he drooled like a mad man, at least it was all over himself and not me! 

I finally got a mirror like I have been wanting forever!  It barely fit into my car, if it was 1/4 inch longer it would have been a no go!   I had to go return the cart and when I got back into my car I about had a heart attack because I saw someone in the corner of my eye in the backseat, well that person was me in the mirror,  my heart was racing! 

I wish I lived in Green Lake, except the fact that it is in Seattle and super trafficy, but the park is amazing.  A three mile walk around the lake, paddle boat rentals, lots of kids, dogs, families, couples, it was so fun to hang out there with my girlfriends from high school! 

You probably saw this on facebook but Paul and I got a firepit and are pretty excited about it!  I can't wait for warm summer nights to roast marshmallows while snuggled up in a chair with a light blanket.  

When I got back from hanging out with my girlfriends last night Paul took me out to dinner and we got awesome pizza.  It was a little greasy and meaty for my taste but I picked some meat off and dabbed grease off with a paper towel. Paul loved it!  Then we walked down the street and got dipped cones.  THEN we went on five mile drive and it was so so pretty at sunset.  We were going to go to Ruston but the road was closed for construction and we would have missed sunset if we drove around trying to find the detour. 

While we waited for our food they brought us movie theatre popcorn.  Buttery, greasy, salty yummyness. 

The girls and me at the park on a gorgeous summer day.  Lexie will be finished with her 2nd year of med school in two weeks, then she has 2 years of clinicals and then at least 3 years of residency.  She is the smartest lady I know and I am so so excited for her to be a doctor!  

And again half price frapps! Oh heavenly yum. 

Cake pops ready to be dipped.  I freeze them first because they they don't fall off the stick and the chocolate hardens faster.  

I finally remembered to call the garbage company and ask if they took extra trash cans, they do and I couldn't have been more excited!  Three less trash cans make our back yard look way better!  (one was the companies and two of them didn't have functional lids).  

I got the cutest ramekins and bowls at ross the other day! I was so excited with them I forgot to go to target afterward.  I drove to home depot then straight home. Haha. 

The beautiful sunset on five mile drive. :) 

Thanks for listening to my rambelings.  I work Saturday, Sunday and I am expecting to die of heat at the hospital.  The patients aren't moving around at all so they like their rooms warm.  The sun streaming in all the windows makes it really warm! 

Have an awesome mothers day Becca!  

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.