If only it worked that way.

This past week has been a week of finishing up projects. Finishing up happens to be one of my favorite parts of a project. I also like starting projects. It's only that pesky little middle part of actually working on projects that can be tiresome. But this was a simply little project so the middle wasn't too bad.

It started when I kept seeing subway/bus rolls pop up everywhere. And by "everywhere, " of course I mean design blogs. And if this was a design blog, I would probably be ashamed to be talking about this because the bus roll is "so over" and has become the new Keep Calm and Carry On Poster. But I really like them and luckily for me, I don't have a design blog and can get away with this trend because the majority of people who will enter my home don't read design blogs and are not aware that using them is passe.

And then I saw this bedtime one and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. At $25, the price really wasn't bad but I still would need to buy a frame and I decided the black background was going to be a little too harsh for her room. So I made one myself!

I went with a pale greyish pink. Lucy's room is still very gender neutral so it was a nice way to add in a pop of girlishness. The frame I got for free from a MOPS home item exchange a couple months ago. I thought about having it printed on a canvas but I would have had to use a more standard size and really liked the long and skinny look. Since it is an odd size, I had it printed as a 16x20 and just cropped it to fit. My only cost was the printing which was ~$15 since I ordered other items at the same time and got free shipping. Not bad for a custom piece of art.

So now you know what we are doing at approximately 7pm every evening. Except for that last step, which apparently Lucy thinks is optional.

A turn about the yard

We are all doing much better now and spent much of the weekend working on the back yard. I love working on the inside of the house but the spring weather is too much of a draw and luckily, there is a lot to do outside too! It's also easier to work with Lucy outside since she gets distracted by grass and dirt and gives us a bit more space. Inside she practically crawls on top of us to see what fun things we are up too.

We have many many plans for the backyard, too many in fact. But a while back Craig and I walked around and made a list of all the things we even dreamed of doing. It was long. But that was okay. It gave us a start and allowed us to sort out where the different zones of our yard should be (play, entertaining, garden, etc). We don't want to work really hard to install raised beds one year only to find out that the spot we picked is the only one where chickens will work so we have to move them.

Once we had an idea of what and where we wanted to work, we had to deal with the when. After prioritizing, we came up with a three year plan. I'm sure our three year plan will be evolving and it will probably take more than three years to complete, but at least it is a start. It also lessened the stress since we know we have a plan of action and will get to everything in due time. This year we are focusing on the vegetable gardens, berry planting and getting our deck/patio outfitted with a grill and table so we can start entertaining more.

Here is a shot of the backyard. It's all weird looking because I made a panorama with photoshop but it gives you a good idea of the layout as long as you ignore the depth issues and imagine the pictures wrapping around you.



1) The vegetable garden. Craig finally finished up the raised beds this weekend! He has been working on them for a while but he doesn't have much time after Lucy goes to bed before it gets dark. Also, they are on a hill so while the assemble was fast, the installation and leveling was a pain. But they look amazing and should last a while. We just need to order our topsoil and compost. (In front of the veggie garden are pallets that make up our compost bin but we don't have enough to fill the beds so we will order it and use ours later on). We are going to try out hand at tomatoes, onions, beets, corn, green beans, lettuce and cucumber (garlic too but that is not until fall). There is also a bird feeder and bath over there too.

2) Strawberries go here! Yum. Of course, we will have to be patient but I think it will be worth it.

3) Here is the Lucy zone. This space is great because it is flat and while it is sunny in the morning, it is nice and shaded during the hot afternoons. It isn't really getting much attention this year in terms of work, but I have a feeling we will be playing here quite a bit this summer. Eventually we will be putting some sort of play house here next to the little well (that covers up our actual well). There might even be room here for a baby pool or sand box but for now it is home to Lucy's little farm playground.

I had been looking for a little playground like this on Craiglist after I saw  John enjoying his but I couldn't find anything. Then Saturday we found this one for free on a curb. What luck! I had originally thought I would let Lucy take over the little garden bed but Craig planted tulips last fall (you can just see them starting to peek up) and I love tulips so we will have to see how unselfish I am when the time comes.

4) A collaborative project with our neighbor is to install a gate here. Right now neighbor J and I have to hop the fence or walk down around to the busy road in order to visit each other. Neither option is ideal since we both have kiddos with us. Neighbor J has skills and can hop the fence in a skirt while wearing her cute chunky monkey of a 7-month old in a mei-tai but I'm not as brave. Both of us think that a gate would be a good addition.

5) Our clothesline area and soon to be home to blackberry bushes. We had to do some layout rearranging since we didn't realize that blackberry bushes get as tall as they do. But this new location should be ideal. Those windows are only our garage windows so it isn't a big deal if the bushes block them a tad.

Other than that, we will just be working on general yard maintenance. The previous owner took meticulous care of his yard but he used a lot of Scotts to do it (and even left us the schedule :-) but we will be trying a more organic approach. Eventually the yard should be healthier and less work but this first couple years will be a shock to it's chemical dependent self and it will probably look awful and need a bit more tlc. Craig's going to be re-seeding a couple areas and working together with our other neighbor on the mole issue. Moles give me the creeps so I hope they are successful since I love my backyard and want to be able to enjoy it!

In case you were wondering...

we are still alive here - barely. After our exciting Friday, we kept the fun  going on Saturday with a picnic and trip to the zoo with friends.

But since Sunday, we have been hit with migraines (MacKenzie), cold/flu (Craig), teething pain (Lucy) and bad-enough-to-cause-bleeding diaper rash (Lucy again). It was definitely a week when I had to remind myself many times that as Christians, our difficulties are temporary but our joys are eternal.  And temporary they are, after some ibuprofen (MacKenzie), theraflu (Craig) and snacking-on-frozen-peas-while-sitting-naked-in-mama's-lap-time (Lucy), we appear to be on the mend. Until then, here are some pictures of us enjoying the zoo.

Daddy Days (and videos galore!)

This post is ridiculously video heavy, but in my defense, none are very long. All but one was taken yesterday and I just couldn't wait to show them to you. The reason we took so many yesterday was that Craig was home and for some reason, he is much better at getting good clips. Here is my attempt to capture Lucy's cruising around with her walker wagon:

and here is his. Not fair.


Craig was home because he is done with the training he has been doing and can go back to his 9 hr days with every-other-Friday-off schedule. I love that schedule because we get an extra day and it is even better than a weekend because we don't normally have things scheduled so it is just for fun time. Yesterday we tried out the local indoor pool with Lucy for the first time. We were a little nervous about her reaction but after a few minutes of uncertainty

she decided it was the best thing ever! See for yourself.

After our pool time, we had a yummy lunch at Chick-Fil-A, a quick trip to Hobby Lobby for some supplies for a craft for Lucy's room and then she and I took a 2-hr nap while Craig worked on our raised beds some more. After our nap, we played in the garden and Lucy finally decided that she not only likes grass but that she can crawl! On all fours! I really thought she was just going to skip it entirely, but nope. She still mixes in some scooting but there is definitely real crawling going on . What a day!

Officially a collection

I love the idea of collection things. I have a cross collection which should be getting hung up sometime in the next day or two (hint hint Craig :-) but I have strict rules about when and how I add to it. I can be given crosses anytime but can only buy them for myself for a specific reason and in case you were wondering, purchasing one at a mexican market on the last day of a mission trip is a specific reason, because they had cute ones on sale at Kohls is not.

Craig loves to garage sale shop and go to antique hole-in-the-wall places but my attention span is not always up for that. I wanted something that I could be on the lookout for to help me enjoy spending my time that way a bit more but it had to be fun, inexpensive and useful - and I finally found it!

I stumbled upon a blog post about vintage Pyrex and Fire-King glassware and oh my goodness, the cuteness I saw! Not only does it fit all my criteria, it works with the style of our house. And I can say I want to keep the vintage charm of this place all I want but most things from the 50-60s are just plain ugly so this bonus was a big one. Of course, right now the pink and grey laminate countertops are about all the charm my kitchen can take, but someday...okay, back to reality.

Of course, there are some very 60s patterns but there are lots that are colorful and fun without being overwhelming or overly avocado (see a pattern guide here). I am particularly fond of the blue and teal ones but I'm also a sucker for anything with polka dots. They just make me want to put on a string of pearls and beehive my hair. 

And I love it's history. I've only done a little bit of research but it was made for the masses so the quality control was minimal. The designs are often crooked and all piece are just a bit different. And some of the patterns I've seen were made to be given away as gas station marketing promotions. That is better than a coupon for a free car wash!

Although lumped together as "Pyrex" (since only the same dorks who call Kleenex "facial tissues" would call Pyrex and Fire-King "borosilicate glass ovenware"), most of my favorite patterns are actually Fire-King. But since I'm just picking up stuff I like at thrift stores, garage sales and little antique places when I find them at good prices, I don't really care.

I was going to document them on a cute piece of fabric like they do over at pyrexlove.com, but this is what kept happening when I tried:

So you get them on my shelf instead, but since that is where they actually reside, it's more accurate anyway.

This is the first piece I picked up for $3.50.  It's a Fire-King piece (unnamed pattern that is often called cornflower)

And these are the ones I got last weekend. I was torn between this one and the bowls below but when we went to check out, we were told that everything was 50% off so I splurged and got all three for $10! And now that I own more than one piece, it's offically a collection!

The casserole dish is Fire-King. I want more lidded ones since I am phasing out our plastic storage containers and these will be nice for leftovers.

I'm not sure what this bowl is but I now own two!