A Costcoing We Will Go...

So I headed back to Costco again today. Yes, I KNOW that I am at Costco on a biweekly pattern, but I can't help it. As long as I'm in the area, I may as well stop for those funky milk gallons and $3.99 cheese.

And maybe a $1.09 mocha.

Or two.

Yep...two.

Except with the littles in tow I have a hard time juggling all the lovely groceries and carrying two mochas. Not to mention the whole 'keep your receipt out to get checked and scrawled on by the sharpie wielding Costco employees' fuss. Yep, FUSS. Then you get your hair blow dried by the industrial heaters and you are spit out the exit garage door. So in short, all that with two mochas and two littles isn't easy.

Don't let the sharpie receipt marking whine fool you. I love me some Costco. I would live there if they let me. Mocha's and fresh muffins in the morning, watch the latest movie on the 64 inch screen, try a sample of everything for lunch, spend the afternoon trying on all the clothes in 3 different sizes and the 2+carat diamond solitaires, and settle in with the latest book and whatever I want for dinner...and all American chocolate cake for dessert. Glorious.

I wore Lil Chick in the Moby for my Costco jaunt and may I just say? I got some strange looks. Really? Is a baby being carried in a front pack so strange?

One lady asked me, "does she just SLEEP in there?"

No, she does crossword puzzles and calculates tax rates.

Things I am loving at Costco right now:

- Huge glazed teal planters for $39.99

- Adorable Calvin Klein 3 piece toddler sets. Faint plaid shorts, polo and over shirt. SUPER adorable. Don't remember how much.

- Girls spring dresses! Do you think buying toddler clothes now is a bit to early for Lil Chick? That's what my husband said.

- GiNORmous coloring books for kids. Really, they were HUGE. I want the Lighting McQueen one more than Bubbalu does.

- Blender! I need a new one and the one they had on display is all purty and shiny.

- Olive Oil. DUDE. I bought 4 LITERS of the stuff. Just because I could. And it cost the same as a smallish bottle from Safeway.

- Towels. I had major towel needs. Up until a few days ago we were still using the ones my parents gave to me when I graduated high school. HIGH time for new ones. I used some of my birthday money to get new bath towels, hand towels and washcloths in chocolate brown, light brown and green. They are NUMMY...and a SUPER deal for the quality.

- Outdoor furniture sets. Too many awesome ones to pick a fave. Oh, and I need a pool.

Just LOVE me some Costco.

What are you loving from/at Costco right now?

A

Scrappy Silhouette Artwork...

Lil Chick's room had a bare wall that screamed for some character, some inspiration, something.

I also had two empty frames laying around. And with just a smidgen of scrapbook paper in my possession, as I've mentioned before, an idea was born.

And despite this project taking me a good 2ish weeks to complete (my husband might argue 3 -4 weeks but he is SUCH an over exaggerator) it should be a quick afternoon project.

Scrappy Silhouette Artwork:



Directions:

1. Grab and coordinate a ton of scrapbook paper.

2. Download or draw your own silhouette. I chose the wren silhouette from Martha Stewart's website. I printed the silhouette directly onto my scrapbook paper after trimming the paper to printer size.

3. CAREFULLY cut the silhouette out and glue, photo stick or glue dot it to coordinating paper. I used the frame inside paper label as my template and glued directly onto it.

As you can see I chose to ignore the thin strip of paper between the wren's legs. My exacto knife has a rather dull blade...and I was just too lazy.



4. Embellish as you wish with coordinating scrapbook paper strips or whathaveyou.

I am now thinking a bit of shimmer on the birdies might be fun. But that might stretch my project out another month or two, and there's only so much my husband can take.

Enjoy and please post your crafty results!

A

Easy Decoration Idea...

I happen to have...oh...about...well... 2 or 8 tote bins full of fabric. Really, I do. It's an addiction really. But a FUN one.

Since I love my fabric so much, and often have cutting anxiety, I often choose to showcase it instead of harming it:



Easy peasy decor.

Besides, I can change it out anytime I want and haven't invested a huge amount of money.

I thought this little shelf area would be a great place to herald the arrival of spring...so WHERE IS IT?

Hello!? Spring? Where ARE you? Did you get lost? I bet you used the wrong Mapquest directions when I already told you they were wrong, didn't you?

*sigh*

A

Sign and Seal...

We had Lil Chick baptized last Sunday. It was a special tender moment in our little family.

My special life moments and events seem to be extra sharp and slowed down while they are occurring. On Sunday when she was getting sprinkled I remember thinking, "remember how you are feeling, what you are seeing, don't blink too fast or you'll miss something!"

What I DO remember...

We walked up to the front, Lance holding Lil Chick, me with a death grip on Bubbalu's hand, both of us praying he behaved. Bubbalu was (and STILL IS) sick and had recently taken to blowing his nose into his HANDS. Why, why, why, WHY would one do this? I have no idea. Extra moisturizing perhaps? After he does this he stares in wonderment at his hands probably curious as to why gobs of snot have now taken up residence on his hands.

Anywho, I was fully expecting him to blow his nose in his hands at the moment Pastor Pete baptized poor looked over Lil Chick. Not so.

What he DID whisper to me right after we walked all the way up?

"This is nice, Mommy."

Yes, Bubba, this IS nice.



A

You Know It's A Bad One...

You know it's a bad one...

-when you can smell her aroma from more than 4 feet away. For example, when driving and can smell her in the backseat. Not like that has ever happened to me before...as in today.

-when she screams the, "I have acid poo on my behind!" cry.

-when you can feel the wetness penetrating her 3 layers of clothing...to her shoulders.

-when you wish you could gown and glove up for the diaper changing procedure.

-when you lay down a protective layer FOR your diaper changing pad.

-when you don't dare wash any of your other clothes with the affected garments.

-when you wish you could do a surgical scrub AFTER the diaper changing procedure.

-when it is so memorable you can write an entire blog post about it.

A

Custom Letter Tutorial...

First off, buy wooden letters that spell your kids name (Michaels, JoAnns, or Hobby Lobby for those of you NOT on the west coast has em for pequeno dinero). I am guessing that many of you already have these, as they are extremly popular and quite cute.



Then go through your 3 tote bins full of unused scrapbook paper and pick out a bunch that go well together. What!? You don't have 3 tote bins full of unused scapbook paper? Oh. It's just me then. Feel free to come over and take some of mine.

Lay the wooden letter onto the paper and trace around it. Put the FRONT of the letter onto the BACK of the paper. OR, put the RIGHT side of the letter to the WRONG side of the paper...or maybe the PRETTY side of the letter to the UGLY side of the paper....I could go on for hours, but I won't (clapping heard) :



See? That wasn't too hard was it? :



Next step, carefully cut it out. Yep, just like elementary school, but this time we get sharper scissors.

Turn the paper and the letter pretty side up:



Glue, photo tab stick or gel dot the paper cut-out onto the wooden letter:



Voilà! C'est Magnifique, no?



Staple some coordinating ribbon to the back of those letters and they are ready to hang.

Let's review, shall we?

Drab:



To fab!:



I just love how this one turned out:



Uber adorable and super easy. Doesn't hit the wallet too hard either.

And I know you should probably modge podge the paper onto the letter, but me? I likey to change my mind...and my decor. So I choose to lightly stick the paper onto the wooden letters with glue dots or photo stickers so I can change the paper anytime I want.

One note of caution...when Bubbalu was a baby I had his letters hanging on the wall above his crib. What I didn't know was that he could reach them...you see where this is going, don't you?

Enter Sesame Street voice, "This nap has been brought to you by the letter EEEEE". He had pulled the letter down, ripped the paper off and had EATEN HALF OF IT. I am SO not kidding. What was with his eating of non-food items?

Enjoy the project folks, and be sure to post pics to share your creativity...

A

Simple Saturday Snapshop...

LOVE this picture of Lil Chick just hanging out on the boppy:



Looking at me like, "and HOW much longer do I have to do this stupid 'tummy time' crap? Cause this is SO not cool".

She's got a 'tude already...the teen years might be painful.

A

It's All Trivial...

Hmmm, guess I took an impromptu bloggy break. Guess I was feeling overwhelmed. Or just whelmed. Because you DO know that whelmed and overwhelmed mean the same thing, right? You didn't know that? I'm not lying, it's true.

So the story of my life goes. I know countless bits of trivia and inconsequential flotsam. The only time I get to retrieve those pearls from the hallways of my brain and actually use them to impress anyone is either A. Blogging B. Trivial Pursuit or C. crossword puzzles.

Not exactly worthy of an award or national recognition, but whatever. At least it makes me a bit more interesting. Cocktail party conversation starters, maybe. Because I go to so many cocktail parties. Heh. I'm living the high life over here.

Other random bits to elighten:

• do you know that the highest quality coffee comes from an arabica coffee bean, which is different than most coffee beans? It also has the lowest caffeine content as well. Don't believe me? Here you go.
• Double points if you know what a hautboy is...
• or that the "green fairy" highly alcoholic drink is absinthe...
• last but not least, that bears don't actually hibernate!

So, we are back to blogging on a somewhat regular basis...

A

Whining + Posting = RESULTS...

Apparently if you whine long enough and post a blog about it, you sometimes get what you want.

Check out what we now have in our garage:



Oh yeah baby, we got a freezer! An early birthday present for me. And Mom, I will come and collect all the miscellaneous frozen goods that I have stashed in your freezer.

Thank you Craigslist. And can I just say? We got a SMOKIN' deal on this beaut. Lance borrowed his Pa's truck and picked it up last night.

I am so excited because of this stinkin' appliance. Not that it actually stinks as it's officially been cloroxed from top to bottom. We're not animals you know. And bleach can be your friend. Especially if you are a garage sale, craigslist or thrift store patron. Just be careful about your clothes when handling the stuff. It only has to happen once...

I got right to work cleaning it out and filling it to the brim:

OK, maybe brim isn't exactly the best descriptive. Not very full, is it? And this is after my Mom donated a bunch of food that she didn't need.

So all I have to say is:

COSTCO HERE I COME!!!

A

Craving Freezer Burn...

I just read an online article about how to save 25% on your food bill. Most of it had to do with not overbuying, cooking smartly and actually eating leftovers (as opposed to Tupperwaring and forgetting them).

I've been a Martha in the kitchen lately. Meaning I've been bit by the 'Have a hot meal on the table for the husband' bug. Also known as the 'I've been slaving over a hot stove, raising your progeny and am barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen so cut me some slack!' bug. Except that I'm not pregnant. And I usually wear cozy socks. But I DO enjoy a good cut of slack...with a side of guilt.

Not that I have to guilt my hubby to do anything kitchen related. The man is actually a whiz in the kitchen - a superb dishwasher packer (I suck, apparently), ingenious recipe alterer and stunning fridge/freezer reorganizer. That man has some serious skillz. His Mama taught him well.

Which is fortunate as we have to be smart about freezer space. At this point we do not have a bonus freezer stashed in the garage. We have our kitchen french door refrigerator with bottom split freezer shown here:



However, I've discovered that a 9x13 pan does NOT fit in any way, shape or form...unless it is melted down into one big ball, then I'm sure Lance could figure out a way to make it work.

During my major cooking spree I've been double or tripling recipes to have leftovers and frozen spares. Unfortunately, that means we are about to pay rent on the freezer space that we are using over at my parent's house.

Eventually, we'll buy a freezer...when it gets to the top of the 'Things we need to purchase for our home' list.

In the meantime, if you happen to have an unused freezer lying around, feel free to ship it to me...

A

Tutu...

My sweetie...




I whipped that tutu together for her about 20 minutes before we had to walk out the door for the photography appointment.

Good thing I didn't waste too much time on it because she peed all over it...

A

Random Hospital Chatter...

We are just now getting the finalized hospital bills from Lil Chick's hospitalization. Apparently it racks up quite a tab. YEOWCH. However, we are feeling thankful that insurance is paying a good chunk of it.

Here is some random hospital chatter floating through my brain:

The hospital food was not super great. Now. I am a VERY unpicky eater. I'll eat most anything and say it isn't too bad. However, the food left much to be desired. Enter Becky, my cousin in law. She is a Registered Dietitian at the hospital and gave me some huge insider tips on what I could order on my meal trays. Every day I had a huge Naked juice smoothie, a vanilla or chocolate milkshake, protein bars, fresh fruit, fresh side salad and either a grilled cheese sandwich or Club sandwich. The nurses always said to me, "You have the BEST meal trays!". Hee hee hee.

Over the course of the 16ish days spent in the hospital I consumed close to 20 Club sandwiches. They we SO good! Really. They were. I would look forward to my lunch and a movie. When you're on bed rest in the hospital there's not much to look forward to. Eating and blood draws...woot it up! Apparently Club sandwiches were very exciting for me.

We had some amazing nurses, both in Labor and Delivery and the Pediatric unit. I felt comfortable in their care. The L&D nurses kept trying to recruit me, but I said I wanted to be lazy for awhile. Make pies and grow a garden. That sort of thing.

There really is no limit to how many Sudoku puzzles you can do in a row. I did so many of them my eyes started blurring.

One of my Obstetricians took pity on me in my laptopless state, and brought his personal Macbook in for me to use. GLORY. I wrote two posts before heading downhill.

That very same Obstetrician delayed a scheduled C Section so I could get my epidural. Once again...GLORY. Dr. M you are my friend for life.

When Lil Chick was in the hospital I still had bruises up and down my arms from my own hospitalization. I felt quite battered both physically and emotionally.

I realized that despite the dire circumstances we were in, I still felt very comfortable in the medical environment. I felt competent and sharp. Weird huh? Especially since right now I feel fuzzy and dull. But that's because I'm in a post chocolate chip consumption coma.

And of course, my family and friends love me. They showed love by visiting, calling, praying, cooking, cleaning, babysitting, loving on Bubbalu when I couldn't, shopping & returning, more praying, mocha delivering, hugging & crying, emailing, gift gifting, yet more praying and telling me they love me.

But they didn't have to tell me they love me. I already knew. It was shown to me over and over again.

And I love you all right back.

A

Spring Trends 2009...Episode One.

I was flipping through a magazine and came across a new spring trend section. Let's go ahead and make this a continuing subject, shall we?

First off, apparently jumpsuits are trendy this spring. However, I am not too thrilled about them. Being that I am not a lithe modelesque trackster and don't have the height or confidence to pull it off.

Besides, I actually laughed out loud seeing this picture in my magazine:



Hello Herm, will you be waxing the floors today or repairing the water heater that's on the fritz?

Yes, it's a little too handyman coverall-ish for me. And like I said, I'm not over 6 feet tall and lithe is not a descriptive term normally used when referring to me. Besides, it's $99 on sale. Not thrifty or recession friendly.

Next trend : Fuchsia. I LOVE a good bright color, and I actually do have a fair bit of fuchsia in my closet. I have dark hair and features and am fair skinned, so this color is happy on me.

Example #1 from my favorite inspiration store, Anthropologie, for $68:



I am normally not a fan of bubbly-ish tops, but hello, someone's 3 months postpartum over here.

And while we're on the subject, ADORABLE:



Yes Please:



And so cute it hurts:



However, to be recession friendly, here you go:



From you know where for only $10.

And another:



Once again from you know where for only $14.

You're welcome.

A