Saturday, June 25, 2011

Moving on


Leaving all the festivities behind (and a few unopened and amazing looking lego sets) me and the boys packed up some of our belongings including floaties, sunscreen, swimming suits, goggles...and packed ourselves in with my parents for a much needed vacation to Florida. The only down side to this trip was having to leave daddy behind but so far I've managed to keep them pretty distracted.
Since our arrival there has been much Wii playing (I could never see Mario Kart again and be very happy), lego building, swimming, blueberry picking and beach chilling.  It has been wondering to have time to read and knit again.  There's just something about getting away for a time. The week has flown by but unlike most of my vacations to see my parents this one isn't quite over.
My Aunt from Oregon, my mom, me and my 3 boys (and of course #4 who is constantly making his presence known) are leaving again Monday for another eventful road trip. This time we are going to see my sister and niece how live in Missouri. I am pretty excited about seeing her place and being back in Missouri again. I armed myself today with 2 400 page Batman coloring books. With those and the DVD player we should be good to go for many hours on the road.  It almost feels a bit unfair because shortly after this trip ends my family (this time including Ben) will be headed to the beach for another week of vacation mode.  Let the summer begin!!

Friday, June 17, 2011

A Party Around Every Corner

Today is Peter's Birthday.  Of my 3 boys he seems to take the  most after me in mood and disposition which is not necessarily good but something I can relate to.  He is definitely our moody artist at times, sensitive, independent, and now 5 years old.  The biggest milestone we have faced in turning 5 is giving up his tiny blue blanket and his thumb.  We tried to make a production of this reenforcing to him that he is now a big boy and all sorts of other logical reasons why the thumb should be turned away from. Unfortunately he is least of all logical at this point so I resorted to other methods. We went out yesterday to shop for a cozy stuffed animal to replace his beloved blanket. In the blazing sun of the afternoon without any hint of impending bedtime he eagerly brought me his blanket to be packed up for his posterity and picked out the stuffed animal to replace its affections (a tiger webkin which he has named "Tigerie").
Things were not as blissful last night as he was drifting off to sleep weeping over his blanket and pleading for us to get it back for him. I must say it was heartbreaking but we both stood firm and he made it through his first night with no thumb or blanket. This is what it means to turn 5.
Now we are all stuffed with chocolate chip pancakes and are pressing on for a day of movies and slight festivities as we continue to remember his big day.  Tomorrow Christopher turns 3 and the day will end in a big party for both of them which will hopefully include a pirate cake if I can manage to get it all put together. I'm a bit intimidated by that part.
Grandma and Grandpa arrive this evening and there is no end to the fun.



Thursday, June 9, 2011

Furnishing Minimally

     We moved into our 1940s house last November and since them I have done very little decorating. Part of the problem is that up until now I have never lived in a place that I have felt like decorating. Most of our homes have been rentals and although I know several people that dive head first into decorating their rental I am not one of them.  The one house we did own we only ended up staying in for a year so I really only had time to paint and hang pictures. 
     I found after we moved into this house and were finally beginning to settle into a place that we plan to live in for as long as we can possibly stand (which hopefully will be 10 years or more) that I didn't even really know what my style was.  
     I discovered this one weekend when my husband's parents were watching the boys and we decided to peruse a furniture store for ideas. Up until now we have only had furniture that was given to us or we found for a steal on craigslist.  During those times you can't be very discerning or turn something down because it's not your style. You just take it and use it because people need places to sit.  
      Going to the furniture store was highly unsettling to me. I'm not even going to deal with the fact that the sales clerk there basically stalked us through the store despite our constant reassurances to her that if we did find something she would be the first to know and that we really were just looking.  It was all my pregnancy hormones could do to stay calm and not scream at her, "Stop following us!!!" So trying to ignore her footsteps behind us we pressed on looking at tons of oversized, overstuffed furniture that didn't come close to resembling anything I would want in my living room.
     First of all in the 1940s they didn't sit on giagantor couches that make you feel like you're a little kid when you sit back on them.  I am short and there is so little furniture made out there for people shorter than 6'.  When I'm visiting with guests I don't really feel comfortable kicking my shoes off and curling up into a fetal position on the couch just to get comfortable.  So we both left discouraged and my husband said, "I need you to figure out your style." 
     So thus it began. A quest to determine what says me. It's easy to point to what doesn't say me but the other side is much harder. The next week I googled, looked through magazines, and countless blogs on the subject and eventually found out that my style is very similar to our house. I prefer smaller furniture. The kind of furniture that most likely originally furnished this house when it was first made. I love the 1940s style which interestingly enough is modern. It has sleek lines not bulky pillows and oversized recliners.  Much of what I found is now considered apartment furniture.  
     The only thing left was to actually find something that was in our price range (which is really cheap...i mean REALLY).  Amazingly enough I found this on craigslist and fell in love with it (so I guess we still haven't broken the mold of getting our furniture on craigslist).  It is the first piece of furniture that I truly believe reflects my style and we both absolutely love it. 


Now to tackle the whole concept of curtains....Ugh!!!