Friday Update #39 (9/27/13)

Saturday: a nice day cuddled up at home. Mom stopped by for an hour on her way home from a wedding. Seth got home really late.

Sunday: Sunday School. Ezra didn't go to his class, but fell asleep during the service?!?, as did Isaac, so Seth and I both sat through the service. We went to Mom and Dad's for the Seahawk game, then Hannah and Ruth came over.

Monday: Happy birthday to me!

Tuesday: Seth had another super early job and was therefore home early. He made calls and I played with the boys and then we all went to Winco together. Ezra had a rough time getting in the car and shopping, but I guess he went to bed easily, so maybe it was worth it? Then we watched The Departed. I tried to iron and fold clothes, but Isaac kept waking up and Seth fell asleep.

The summer after we graduated from college, Seth suggested we work our way through a list of his 50 favorite movies that he had made his last semester. The Departed was actually on that list, though we never got to it then. I definitely would give some credit to that list of movies for "making" us spend time together that summer and eventually start dating. But I couldn't help notice the vast difference in how we watched movies then versus now. Like, then we actually tried to watch movies? I can't remember the last time we've tried to watch a movie together recently. It's probably been a few months. And then we finally try to? And I do chores and Seth sleeps. Ah, well.

Wednesday: We did a much better job of getting Ezra to BSF this week! I can't exactly celebrate, because mostly I feel like we just tricked him. We didn't tell him where we were going until we got out of the car at the church. And of course, he started screaming and had to be plucked off of my neck. But he said he had fun. (After he said "I cried a lot, Mommy".) Once again, a highlight was "standing in line"?

Wednesday afternoon he started to get a runny nose, so we were going to stay home from BEN, but he fell asleep at 5:30, so I thought he could just sleep through BEN so I could go to class still... but I didn't want to put Isaac in nursery either, since he would have been exposed to Ezra's germs. So Seth got to hold Isaac and I held Ezra for a while - until he woke up screaming that his "neck" (throat) hurt... and so we spent most of BEN sitting in the hallway trying to get Ezra to drink juice.

That night was pretty rough. Isaac woke up congested at midnight and cried and sniffled his way through the night, and Ezra woke up a few times.

Thursday: Of course I woke up congested and with a pounding headache. So the three of us laid on the couch all day. We were supposed to go to Arsenic and Old Lace, but tickets sold out. And it was nice to just stay home and try to recover. The boys fell asleep early! (but half woke up every few hours all night long), and Seth had a friend of ours over to watch the '49s vs. Rams while I bundled up on the couch and listened to them talk.

Friday: Dad came over and took Ezra away for the day. They went to Hannah's apartment and to Ruston Way (and saw seals and "big giant huge ships!") and then Dad determined Ezra should even spend the night with him! I wish I could say I was especially productive, but even though I did get some stuff done, I also laid in bed and held Isaac and read for a long time. Thankfully, "just resting" seems to be working and I do feel better finally. Better as in recovered/ing from this cold and as in just refreshed. Ezra is a lot of work and I spend most of my time with him and/or Isaac. I love my boys, but these days time apart from them is very rare.

Earrings!

When I turned fourteen I finally talked my mom into letting me pierce my ears. Hannah came along "to watch"and then actually got her ears pierced too (which was, I think, Mom's intention all along? at a mere twelve!)

Then, when Hannah and I turned fourteen and sixteen we convinced Mom to let us pierce our ears a second time.

And then, when I turned eighteen, I went and pierced my ears a third time.

For years earrings were the only jewelry I wore. I thought of long dangly earrings (followed by two hoops or a hoop and a stud) were my fashion statement/concession to dressing up.

But... the day I went in to have my 20 week ultrasound with Ezra, I took all of my earrings out. And never put them back in. Until yesterday. Um, yes, from December 2010 to September 2013.

My mom bought all of us girls tickets to a Beading 101 class down at Shipwreck Beads and we planned a girls date for September 8th. So in the week leading up to the class, I pulled out all of my old earrings and cleaned them and sorted them.

Soaking earrings in vinegar works fabulously!
(Unless you forget about them for a week...)

I sorted out all of my broken earrings (and took them to Shipwreck Beads and bought the appropriate hardwear, etc, needed to fix them).

I've also meant to make some sort of earring holder for years now. I had several ideas, but not all of the supplies (or the willingness to get the supplies?) to execute said ideas, so with all of my earrings laying on various shelves in the bathroom, I decided to just make something up. I stuck Ezra in front of the TV and while Isaac napped I snuck outside to spray paint a picture frame. (I've been working on spray painting my dining room chairs, but my goodness, the weather will not cooperate. And of course, the few times it has, Seth hasn't been home to watch Ezra... Poor chairs.)

I then hung the frame up and curled a piece of green Christmas wreath wire around a Sharpie and hung it on the back of the frame (utilizing the hooks on the back usually used to hold in the glass and matting).

The large "loops" didn't work very well, but of course I didn't figure that out until I loaded all of my earrings on. Because I have so many earrings and because some of them are so heavy, I realized I needed to make smaller "loops". The second time around I used a regular ball point pen, so two or three earrings can hang from each "loop" (instead of six or seven, like I did with the big Sharpie shaped "loops").

Until I buy hooks to screw into the bottom of the frame to hold necklaces, I'm using push pins. And I think twisting the wire around something smaller and/or hanging a two rows of wires would actually work even better. But this works for now, so I'm content enough to leave it as is. (It's also really hard to finish these projects with two kids underfoot and I have so many more projects to accomplish first! Being a pregnant zombie for three years has put me quite behind.)

PSA: Make Snickerdoodles with Butter!

Wow. I can't believe I'm still awake, but I'm waiting for my last batch of cookies to bake.

Seth's leaving tomorrow to drive 18 hours (well, they're getting a hotel in Redding, so like 10 on Sunday, 10 on Monday) and I never went and bought snacky foods.

So last minute (and at 11:30) I decided to make snickerdoodles. Seth says they're his favorite cookie?

Anyway, a while back I made snickerdoodles with oil, since that's all I had on hand. So since then, I've just used the same recipe I found using oil instead of butter... but tonight I didn't have oil, only butter.

And wow. SO much better. "Too 'licious!"

Decorating Advice?

This summer I've been trying to straighten up our house and get things organized and cleaned up. And decorated. Especially putting stuff up on the walls. So weigh in:

Issue #1:

I saw this project somewhere on the internet. A few months ago I broke the glass to this wood frame, so it was perfect for the job. I grabbed some dark purple craft paint, gave it two coats, "nailed" a nail into the wall (with a mug, since I couldn't find a hammer), hung a blinder clip on the nail and then hung the frame on the nail too. Then I hung Ezra's latest drawing in the clip. Ta da!

I can't decide, though, if I really like it.

 Issue #2:

What to do with this big section of blank wall?

These two frames were standing up on our mantle, but on a whim I hung them up. I think they're too small for this area and I don't necessarily think I like family photos on the wall? I don't know, I have conflicting feelings about that.

I think I'm at least going to frame a 8x10 of the three of us and hang it there to see if that works.

Issue #3

I haven't found a plant to plant in this hanger. (Which Mom macraméd in high school 30 some years ago.)

Our House: The Living Room

Brand new carpet!

Mirror wall.

Lots of random wires.

Plastic on the windows.

Bricked in fireplace.

No more mirrors!

Prepping for paint.

Moving in furniture.

Paneling!

Painted. 

More furniture and lots of clothes.

Trying to get moved in.

Trying out furniture placements.

One of the most important aspects of moving in.

Fresh flowers.

Slowly getting settled.

And then tearing it all apart again.

Curtains.

Painted!

Mostly done.

Mostly done.

Mostly done.

Our House: The Series

We moved into our house July 2010. And it was a mess. We've spent a lot of sweat and some money fixing up. And it's still not done! But since it's a rental, there's only so much we want to do.

The project for this spring, however, is finally hanging up pictures and the like. So even though I'm putting up blog posts highlighting each room, I'll probably have to come back and add another photo or two of each room once we make some final tweaks.


The Living Room

The Kitchen

The Laundry Room

The Bedroom

The Study/Nursery

The Bathroom

The Yard

Recovered Chairs

Last summer, I bought four chairs at a garage sale for $10. I had grand plans to paint them and recover them, but then I got pregnant.

And then I had a baby, who, once he started crawling, took it upon himself to tear the raffia off the chairs.  Actually, looking at the "before" picture, below, I can hardly believe how much he wrecked them!

So a make over was long overdue.

And although I truly meant to recover them myself, my wonderful, generous mother took over for me and did them all herself.

Originally, I planned to paint or re-stain the chairs, but I guess I got lazy? But they still look infinitely better than they did, so they might just stay unpainted.