10,000 Steps
21 Nov 2009 Leave a Comment
in The In-Laws, The Juice, Threads Thursdays
My mother-in-law informed me today, while we were talking turkey – more on that later, that she read somewhere you should take 10,000 steps a day.
Where did this come from? Well, I was on the phone with her walking back and forth between two chairs set ten feet apart. Why, do you ask, would I be walking back and forth? No, it is not to work off those last seven pounds of baby weight – although they do haunt me and this would have been very effective.
I went Christmas shopping today and came up with a great idea for someone on my list who is very hard to shop for – a Rapunzel scarf.
I would go into more detail, but, on the off chance that she might read this (even though I don’t think she knows my blog exists), I can’t. Let’s just use this as a Christmas teaser.
This project was great! I love the way it turned out. I love how easy it was to put together. I love that it cost me just a little over five dollars. I would keep this if it wasn’t intended for someone. Darn those well thought out Christmas gifts! I hope she likes it as much as I do.
Anger
15 Nov 2008 2 Comments
in Mommy Mondays, My Superhero, The In-Laws, The Juice
I can remember having a conversation back before Superhero and I got married. His sister and brother-in-law, he and I were sitting at their table discussing if we could kill someone. Superhero said if someone entered his home uninvited when I was there, there was no doubt in Superhero’s mind that that person would be a dead man. I couldn’t even fathom the idea of killing someone and Superhero’s sister said, and I quote, “That’s because you don’t have kids.”
Well, now that I have a child, I still can’t fathom killing someone, but I would do a significant amount of damage to anyone who walked in the door uninvited. However, how do you protect your child from the people outside?
Superhero and I were driving to his sister’s house yesterday for pizza and sundaes. He didn’t realize he was in an exit only lane (he was distracted by a car on fire on the other side of the highway – poor Jeep). He needed to move over, so he sped up a little bit to leave enough room between him and the guy behind him in the other lane and then moved over. Well, apparently this fellow didn’t particularly like that Superhero did that. He moved into the lane next to us, got up next to us, and then veered into our lane. Had Superhero not seen him move into our lane and taken evasive action (that required ending up almost entirely on the shoulder), the guy would have hit us.
Now, I don’t mind when people do that on accident – hell, I’ve done it; gone to move over when I thought the lane was free and had to veer back into my lane because someone was there that I didn’t see. But this was no accident – this man maliciously and intentionally veered into our lane. What would he have done if he had hit us going sixty miles an hour? Would he have felt he made his point then? He had a passenger that definitely would have gotten hurt…and then there was us….
And this is what gets me the most. Carseats are not small items. They are very noticeable sitting in the back of the car and he was right next to us, which means he saw it. He saw that there was a child…not just a child, but a baby, in the car and he endangered our lives anyways. While I would never be able to kill this particular person…I cannot imagine what would happen if I were to ever run into him.
Needless to say, we took his plates and called the cops…who didn’t seem all that interested once they picked up the phone after the twentieth ring. I understand that it is the non-emergency line, but pick up the phone…it’s just polite. I have a very good friend whose husband is a cop and I am inquiring with her if there is anything else we can do, but it is not looking hopeful. How inferiorating to be so helpless…no wonder people follow people to get back at them for such ridiculous retaliation, which is what Superhero would have done, and did do for a little while, but with his wife and child in the car, he didn’t follow him all the way.
I just cannot believe some people and yesterday, for the first time in a very long time, I was actually really angry at that person. So to you, the driver of a blue Chevy S-10 who uses his vehicle as a weapon, know that you were wrong and if there is anything we can do legally, we have your license plate and we will do it. Lastly, for goodness sake, go see a counselor about controlling your rage – you could have caused a very bad accident and hurt people…one of which is just over a month old and barely had time to live. There are some choice words I have to describe people like you.
Blueberry Muffins
02 Sep 2008 Leave a Comment
in Mommy Mondays, My Mama, My Superhero, The In-Laws, The Juice
Alright – it’s early. Very early. Superhero has to be at work an hour early everyday this week, so that means we’re up at 5:30 instead of 6:30. Makes for a whole lot of free time for me in the morning, since I don’t have to be at work until eight. I guess this is good practice for the baby though. I figure once I have to go back to work, I will have to be up between five and five thirty every morning so I can have myself and the baby ready to go by seven, since I have to drive out to the sitter which is half an hour from here and then fifteen more minutes back to work.
I cannot believe we have less than a month left until Baby J is here (hopefully, anyways). Everyone keeps asking me how I feel – I don’t really know what to say. I feel tired and sore, excited and unprepared, flustered and yet, somehow, calm too. I know there are a few more things we need to get before our little bundle shows up, but we’re getting there. My mother is coming down this weekend, so we are heading out to The Breastfeeding Center to get small diaper covers. After borrowing everything else for cloth diapering from a friend of ours, that is all we need.
My mother-in-law doesn’t particularly agree with borrowing cloth diapers, since they’ve been used. I tried to explain to her they’ve been washed too, but she still squished up her nose. Oh well, saved me a bundle of money, so I am not going to complain. Besides, I’m very happy we didn’t have to make a HUGE investment. The sitter won’t be doing cloth diapering, so it will really be just while we’re home. If we’re buying disposable diapers for forty hours of diaper changes, a huge investment in cloth diapers as well would be a little redundant.
Anyways, in other news, I am waiting for this store to move before I go visit it. I figure that’s a good way to keep me from spending money (especially since, this week, after the doctor’s bill got paid off, we really don’t have money to spend). I have never been to an official quilt shop – so this should be exciting. My neighbor’s mother makes BEAUTIFUL bags and we haven’t gotten the diaper bag I want yet, or any small diaper bag for that matter. We did get a weekender, but I cannot be toting around that huge thing everywhere I go. I was hoping I could convince her mother to do a custom made diaper bag for me. The thing about the diaper bag that I want is that under the flap for the messenger bag, there’s a hole, where that little blue thing of wipes fits in. So all you do is flip open the flap and voila! access to wipes! I want that. I have found a container that will work for such uses at Target in the trial size section (more a note for myself than information for you fine people), but I know I do not have the talent, ability, or machine, to make something nice and sturdy for myself yet. I haven’t asked yet, so I don’t even know if she would do custom work, or if, economically, it will be feasible. But I am hoping and praying – and sort of excited to get something that will not be black.
So this is what happens when I get up early – I sit and babble for a half an hour; then I go get ready for work and leave early so that I can get some shredding of my own done at work (saves from having to pull staples and worrying about envelope windows and thickness). More on projects sent and received later. I will try to post more often; I have been sleeping a lot though lately (which puts a big crimp in my style…lol).
Poof!
26 Aug 2008 1 Comment
in Mommy Mondays, My Mama, My Superhero, The In-Laws, The Juice, Threads Thursdays
I disappeared there for awhile – but never fear! I am still here!
I have been very busy lately. The weekend of August 9 was my Mother-in-Law’s Baby Shower in Cuyahoga Falls (just north of Akron) and the weekend of August 16 was my Mom’s shower in Detroit. Both showers I trekked to with an empty car and trekked home with a very full car.
I have got to be the queen of Tetris because I can pack a car like no one I know. I sort of wish I had taken a picture before Superhero and I unpacked it Sunday afternoon after my return from Detroit. I took the Concorde instead of my Jeep to Detroit (for gas reasons) and while the Concorde has a sizeable trunk – it’s not nearly the size of the Jeep and we got many of our larger items in Detroit. Let me tell you, the Concorde’s trunk was a thing of beauty! To give you an idea, the following items were packed in there:
- Travel System Stroller
- Jeep Stroller
- Floor Gym
- Several boxes/bags of clothes, toys, and books
- Additional Travel System Base
- Bouncer
- Case of wipes
- Sleeping bag
- Bag of car items
- Air pump (I have no idea where that came from)
I am sure there was more, but I can’t think of it – the car supplies, air pump, and sleeping bag were in there to begin with. The car seat and a few more bags of clothes were in the back seat, along with the items I had brought with me and a balloon – which scared the hell out of me on several different occasions during the drive home since I kept catching it in the rear view mirror out of the corner of my eye.
Since I have been home – I have been working feverishly to get things ready for Baby J. I have been washing baby clothes, trying to figure out what we still need, and getting things organized and settled in the nursery. I spent last weekend finishing the dressers for the nursery. I am really happy with how these turned out. Superhero wasn’t so sure about the colors, but I think he likes them. I took a before picture of one of the dressers. I picked this one up for $25 at a garage sale a few months ago.
After a circular saw, some sanding, painting, and one pregnant woman with a power tool (installing drawer handles), the end result looks like this.
I also have a taller dresser that was given to me by my sister-in-law’s neighbor, which after a coat of primer (to cover the flowers on the drawers) and a coat of paint, now matches the shorter one beautifully.
Superhero moved these up into the nursery for me and the small one is now filled with cloth diapering supplies, thanks to my best friend’s sister-in-law, and the larger one is slowly being filled with clothes (as they get washed). I’m almost done with the nursery and will post completed pictures when everything is all set, hopefully next weekend at the latest.
I cannot believe we’re getting so close. Baby J is now the hot topic as it seems he/she will be here very soon. I have been working on swaps and other things and will post more about those later. Other than that, my life has really been just getting ready and resting as much as possible while I still can. Well, at least while I still sort of can as sleeping has been interesting lately.
Baby J’s First Shower
09 Aug 2008 Leave a Comment
in Mommy Mondays, My Mama, Swapping, The In-Laws, The Juice, Threads Thursdays
My first baby shower is today. I am very excited and have been working very hard on making some nice gifts to say thank you to the hostesses. Today, the shower is being hosted by my mother-in-law with assistance from my father-in-law, sister-in-law and niece-in-laws. I made my three nieces some embellished t-shirts per their likes:
Jess, Jo, and Jam's T-shirts
I made my sister-in-law some homemade vanilla sugar scrub and got her a gift card to Bath and Body Works, one of her favorite stores. I got my father-in-law a gift card to Wendy’s; he’s addicted to Frosties. Then for my mother-in-law I made a Grandma Bag. I put a brag book I bought for a dollar (I would have loved to make a little book, but I have WAY too many projects on my plate), a magnetic photo frame with some very cute baby paper and a little sign that says “See you soon!” in it, and a t-shirt I embellished for her. Here is the bag with the three items wrapped up:
The Grandma Bag
Here is a picture of her embellished t-shirt. Unfortunately, it did not come out the way I wanted it to. My puppy was choking so I was paying more attention to her than I was to the t-shirt and the iron on lettering was a last-ditch effort after a disastrous experience with embroidering. So said t-shirt will come with a disclaimer that I don’t ever have to actually see her wearing it if she doesn’t want to. I understand it isn’t the most fashionable item and I desperately wish it could have come out better. But it didn’t and I am tired of trying.
Grandma Pam's T-shirt
I made the same little gift set for my mother as well. Here is her t-shirt.
Grandma Anne's T-shirt
Well, I am off to get some sewing done before I head to the salon for a morning of pampering prior to the shower. I did get my fabric for the fabric charm swap yesterday evening and will post it this evening when I get home or tomorrow morning. I am very excited about the Rainbow Fish quilt. I also got another swap recipe in the mail yesterday – yay!
