Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Nesting for #2: obsessed with baby hats

I have a new obsession.
I have been knitting.  I made all these hats in the past week.  I can't stop making hats.  They are not all for me, some are for B.  Well, the orange one is for me :) I am not quite done with these hats.  I might turn some into animals.  I am going to wait until I am super pregnant and just want to sit all day :)

Here is a very loose description on how they are made:
They are made using a size 9 circular knitting needle.  I cast on either 52 or 56 stitches, knit for about 5-6 inches and then switch to 4 double pointed needles. That is when I start the decrease and knit the last 2 stitches together on each double pointed needle.  When there are 3 stitches left on each needle, I tie it off.  

These hats will fit newborn until about 6 months.  You just roll up the bottom for a smaller head and then roll down as it gets bigger.  For a bigger baby, cast on more stitches and knit for 7 inches before decreasing.  

See you on Orange Friday! I finished the nursery and I am going to share some orange every Friday in February to count down to baby!!

Monday, January 28, 2013

PB's valentines

PB finished his Valentine's this week.  I am crazy nesting and crossing everything off our list that could come up in the next two months. I even bought the ice cream cake for PB's birthday in March.  I don't want to let anything slip past me when the baby gets here.  Finishing the Valentine's was an easy thing to cross off thanks to this fantastic printable I found.  
I didn't take a close up because they are already written out.  But they are for glow bracelets. The say, "Valentine, you make my heart glow." I liked that we would be doing something a little different than candy.  Candy is fantastic, and he is obsessed with chocolate.  I just didn't want to put too much candy association with Valentine's Day. Or he will want it to be Valentine's everyday!  I did change up the printable in Illustrator so PB could hand color the heart.  He is working on learning to stay in the lines. 
We did it over 2 mornings.  I even let him do the cutting. That part you can really tell he did himself :) He is very excited to give these out to his class, he just has to wait a few weeks lol

Friday, January 25, 2013

Orange soap dispenser

This is the soap dispenser that sits in our master bathroom.  It is a Target purchase and it was one of the cheaper soap holding options.  I confess that I usually just use the soap brand dispenser and refill.  One broke and Target didn't have a replacement so I had to look at a fancier option.  It comes in many colors and we have had it for a few months and it works great.  

Last weekend my BFF, B and I got together to do some pics.  
B is due exactly one month and one day after me.  She found out she is having a girl!! I am so excited she is having a girl! She did the nursery in purple, white, black and grey.  It is so beautiful.  She sews too and is making a bunch of things for the nursery.  The fabric she has picked out is so sweet and purpley.  

We have been friends for over 20 years so it is super fun going through pregnancy together. I have been sewing and knitting some things in secret for her.  We are going to the fabric store together this week and I am going to have her pick some fabric for a nursing cover and stuff like that.  PB is so excited that she is pregnant too and having a little girl. 

Also PB has been calling me pregnant lady.  It started when I would talk about food, but now it is the main thing he calls me.  Sometimes he calls me pregnant mommy, but mostly it's pregnant lady.  It is hilarious!

There is more nesting on tap for me and Hubby this weekend.  I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Nesting for #2: sewing burp cloths

I have been cutting fabric and pinning like crazy.
These burp cloths are really the only thing I have completed so far.  They are really quick to make, I made some for my BFF who is expecting too (B, act surprised).  The pattern is here. Four of the burp cloths have the same pattern on the front with the blue, grey and orange but two are backed with grey flannel and two are backed with orange flannel.  The last one on the left is snuggle flannel with animals and the back is white and it's super soft with the bumpy circles.  My brain is not working and I can't remember what it is called :)

This has been a super productive week.  My Mom has been helping me nest.  We cleaned out the nursery and she scrubbed it down for me. I hung baby clothes, PB and I made art for the baby room and my Mom made and hung some valences.  I just have to bring everything else back into the room.  I will share some pics soon when we get the bed together, it is still set for PB's toddler bed.  I also started packing my hospital bag and cleaned out half my bedroom and really scrubbed it down.  I am nesting for sure!! Less than 5 weeks until my due date!

I am working on a new crib skirt, a nursing cover, a boppy cover, my cards for card swap next week and a few other things for B.  I will try my hardest to share as I complete things :) PB's big boy room is nearly done and I am so excited about it!  Hope you all are having a great week too!!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Basement Progress: Craft Area Reveal

I was going to wait until tomorrow to share this, but I was too excited :)
My craft area is done!!! It's done, I have been sewing in there and it is fantastic!!!

Everyone loves a good before and after, so here you go:
I picked the worst of the recent before pics.  This is before the area was cluttersharked, emptied, new floors were installed, the room was painted and I got some working storage solutions. I think what makes this space look so much better is the shelves are all set to the same height all the way across and my bins match each other a little better.


Let's look at the space really big:
I did get rid of a lot of stuff that I wasn't using.  I also inherited Hubby's old desk, it's the one on the right. It is a bigger desk than I had before and matches perfectly. I also got some drawers at IKEA for my fabric.  I had a stack of empty orange bins waiting to be used in this space.  
My Mom helped me go through everything and reorganize it in new bins. I would not have gotten rid of so much if my Mom wouldn't have really grilled me about what I actually need and am going to use.  Many of the things I was keeping I got from her 10 years ago when she moved to AZ and I still hadn't used it.  We got rid of all that stuff.  I also moved away from open container storage.  I was putting lots of things in vases that I made when I was taking and teaching ceramics. Some of those vases just weren't pretty and it looked like a crap pile having them all together.  Hubby wasn't using his little drawers, so I got to take those too :) Really the only thing purchased for my space was the big drawers, the rest was free.

Hubby was due for a new desk, and part of why he wanted to give his old desk to me is so he could have a conference space.  
Hubby works from home, unless he is traveling, and he has to meet with his team sometimes.  That means the guys come to our house.  My sewing stuff can be moved out of the way onto the corner desk and the big table can be swung out and 2 people can work there.  When only one person comes to work with him, I just clear my sewing machine off my desk and leave it where it is.

Here is a look of how nice it is for Hubby now when people come over to work.  They all can easily meet and talk.  The guys love the new space, they didn't like the murder red carpet either.  Also a comment was made about me probably liking orange.  I have a ton of orange stuff but it doesn't hit you in the face when you walk in the house, it's one of those things you just realize after being in here a little while :)

Here is how I am using those little drawers. One is for sewing and the other is for other misc. craft and office stuff.
I have thread organized by color (thanks Mom) and all my thread for my serger is in the second drawer.  In the other unit I have everything I use semi regularly all laid out so I can see it.  I also moved my safety pins out of the coffee mug I had and into a drawer organizer that lifts out of the drawer. I can fit more pins and not have to look at them all the time.  
You only see 2 drawers in each unit because the 3rd one in each just has stuff piled in it.  I need to have a few places that are junky places that I can stick things I don't know what to do with and not feel guilty.  

 Well, that is my space!! I knew it felt better but I didn't know just how much better it looked until I saw the before pic:
This space has come a very long way! 
I can't wait to get down there and sew some more!!

Also this weekend...

Hubby's car got parked in the garage again!! That means all the stuff is out of there and we are almost done putting it all away :) more basement reveal to come soon!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Orange Office Chair

Hubby decided I needed a new chair to sew in.  I was using his chair from college and we graduated over 10 years ago.  He saw this orange one online and convinced me I needed a new chair. UPDATE: He got the chair at allmodern.com, it was on sale and they have other colors. I will say that I was ok keeping the chair I had, and then I sat in this chair.  Man my other chair was really not comfortable! This feels so much better!!! Hubby is the best, he really takes care of me :)

This has been a great week! I have gotten so much done :) I also had a very impulsive and intense pregnancy craving that consumed me...
...deviled eggs.  I saw a commercial for eggs and it was pretty much over.  I already crave eggs everyday and seeing that commercial doesn't help me.  I eat 2 over easy eggs for breakfast everyday.  Yes, I know I shouldn't eat undercooked food, but I just can't stop eating it!! I may have ran to the store in the sweatpants I vowed to never wear in public to buy some already hard boiled eggs so I could make this ASAP.  They were delicious!

We also moved PB to his big boy room this week!
He was very excited when we got the bed put together last weekend.  It was sitting in our garage in boxes for a few weeks before we could put it together.  He loves sleeping in his new room.  Really the only thing done in there is the bed, but I have been working on things this week for his room.
This is a tiny peek at something I am working on for his room :)

He is very excited about the things I have been making for his room!
He gives the baby and I lots of hugs for making him things :) He is super sweet... sometimes.  

Like on Wednesday he was being really nice and he said, "Today I am going to be a good boy.  But tomorrow I'm going to be RUDE!" I just thought he was being funny, he was not.  He was definitely rude yesterday. He did promise to be nice today :) 

I am going to the happiest place on earth, IKEA, on Monday.  I'll see you next week with some basement reveal!! Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Basement progress: the home stretch

We are still putting things away in the basement.  The garage is almost empty and in about one more hour of work Hubby will be able to park his car in there again :) I did some work this weekend on our giant pile:
There were a few craft bins, some baby stuff, and other miscellaneous stuff that needed to be put away.  We were also dog sitting :) that's Maggie.  She was a super great helper!

After an hour of work this is what is left:
The baskets are empty and need to be taken up to the nursery and the 2 bins that are left are for Hubby's office. There is a box of frames in there too.  I need to either hang them as they are or get some new art in them and cut new matts.  Hubby unpacked his DVD's 2 weekends ago.  We had DVD shelves that we used in our old house but the just didn't work in the basement.  We will eventually get a different unit to hold the TV that has storage in them for DVDs but it's no rush.

I also worked on the craft area:
It isn't too messy in this pic. I really haven't shared what the space looks like yet.  So here is a little peek, I'll do a more detailed post on it soon. The main thing I worked on this weekend was putting the fabric in those bins on the left away in the drawers.

After:
The bins are gone! Well, one bin now has batting in it and is under the desk.  Confession: i organized one drawer and then got tired and just put the sorted fabric in the other two.  Second Confession: I may have worked for an hour and then took a nap in the orange blob for a little while and finished when I woke up.  

Here is the top drawer.  I cut down some cardboard from the IKEA packages to make drawer dividers. 

We are so close to being done, I can taste it. Hubby has a pile of office stuff to go through and put away.  Maybe he will get to that this weekend.  It has been really gloomy here lately, hopefully it clears up and I get some good light for pics.

I was sewing down there yesterday and it was really nice to sit in that new space.  Hubby said working down there feels totally different now.  We think the murder red carpet seeped into our sub conscience and made us angry.  Also having the new cork floors in there makes it easier for me to grab all the things I need when I am working.  Rolling a chair on the carpet is really hard!

I have actually been working on lots of things the last 2 weeks for PB's big boy room and sewing for baby.  I will be ready to share soon!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Orange glass bowl

This orange bowl is where Hubby keeps his manly pocket stuff.  You know wallet, pocket knife, space pen and change.  It keeps it all together and not all over the ledge :)

I really did mean to share more this week than PB's closet but we were busy getting things done.  Like this:
PB and I were shopping at Kohls last Friday and saw a truck load of these hats on super clearance. We can't figure out why no one wants them LOL!!

Seriously though it was a really busy week.  I hosted 2 MOMS Club events at my house. Which was a good idea because all left over food from the first one got served to playgroup the next day. And I got 2 events out of one time cleaning :) My Mom and I cleaned and prepped PBs big boy room for furniture assembly this weekend.  Mom did most of the work on that one, I just put some IKEA shelves up.  Today I am going to do a ton of cutting and pinning and hopefully sewing for the baby in my belly and my bff's baby girl in her belly :) Hubby is on the phone all day today so if I get to the sewing part, I have to bring my machine upstairs to sew.  

I am pretty excited about all the progress we are making on the house.  I am going to try super hard to take some pics this weekend to share of the basement.  We also have one pile of stuff left to be put away and hopefully this weekend that pile will be gone :) We are doggie sitting a beautiful Chocolate Lab this weekend! I am getting getting doggie kisses as I type :) Happy Weekend!!!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Nesting for #2: PB's closet!

I am officially nesting! I have this weird energy to get things done.  It feels really good too because we only have 7 weeks until my due date! YIKES!
The closet before and after.

Last week my Mom and I worked on PB's big boy closet. She is the best and planned the whole thing out.  She cluttersharked that thing!

We had one tricky obstacle:
The closet isn't flat in the back.  Actually the side that sticks out is skinny and a regular hanger can't hang there.  We decided to make that side all shelves. 

We used the system that has a top hanging bar and the adjustable shelves that go down.  I want this closet to grow with PB as he gets bigger and his clothes get bigger.  Make sure you don't hang that top bar too close to the ceiling! Leave a few inches.  Leave a foot even, you don't need a shelf that high in the closet :)

Here are some tips for planning a closet:
1.  Think. What do you need from your closet? Who is using the closet?  How tall are they?  What do you want to fit in the closet? Think about all these things before you plan.
2.  Measure everything and draw up a plan.  First we measured the closet and drew it out on paper.  Then, we measured his clothes, and the bins for the loose clothes before we bought anything.  We figured out how many shelves we would need and what type, hanging shelves or just shelves.  
3. Buy all your closet stuff at the same store.  That means don't go to both Lowes and Home Depot to buy things, they carry different brands and they DO NOT fit together.  We may have learned this one the hard way and might have had to return and buy a bunch of stuff right when we wanted to start working on the closet. Don't feel too bad for us though, we got to go to lunch while we were out :)  Definitely go to both stores to compare them and see what will work better for your closet and make your store choice that way.  They can cut the long closet pieces down to fit your size. You may be able to get 3 or 4 closet shelves out of one of the long pieces, it is cheaper to cut a long one down then buy 4 shorter ones that need to be cut.  

Here is how it is organized:
I am really thrilled with how it turned out. The best part is PB goes in there and can reach all the clothes he needs to get dressed.  We are not going to have a dresser in the room and that is why we used baskets from IKEA as drawers. There is still a bunch of space in there too! 

He has really enjoyed the freedom to get dressed by himself in the morning and choose his clothes.  He is very good at dressing himself and always matches! He is my little Tim Gunn :)

Friday, January 4, 2013

Orange Couch!!!

I still can't believe I get to type the words orange couch!!!! 
We bought an orange couch for the basement!!!! It is from IKEA and sadly if you are an orange lover like me then you will have a hard time finding this couch in orange.  It was on clearance (SCORE!) and it was delivered the day after Christmas with the rest of our IKEA order.  They are not going to be selling this couch in orange anymore. So if you love orange and you see something orange at IKEA, buy it right away because they don't carry the color for long. 

Let me just clear one thing up, Hubby wanted this couch.  He pushed me to get it, not the other way around.  I was happy to wait a few months or so to get a couch.  He admitted yesterday it was because he wanted to get a couch now to finish the room and he knew I couldn't say no to an orange couch.  He's right, I have a known weakness for orange.  

I am going to start sharing our basement progress soon and I just couldn't wait to share the couch.  We have been making the push to get it done.  I will also be sharing PB's closet next week.  My Mom and I finished it yesterday! 

Have a great weekend!!!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy New Year!!

I hope you all had a nice New Year! We stayed home, ate appetizers for dinner and watched some TV. We know how to get wild!

Hubby was off all last week and we got a ton done around here.  We made a serious dent in the basement and I will be ready to share a few things soon.  I also did some thinking about resolutions.  I love making goals for the year.  My number 1 resolution for the last 2 years has been to reorganize the house top to bottom before PB's birthday in March.  I do love that goal but I have other pressing things that need to be done first.  Like get PB in a big boy room, get the nursery ready, and sew for baby.  So I am going to focus on that.  We actually have started PB's room by emptying it:
The best part, it's already painted!  My Mom and I are re-doing the closet tomorrow.  We have the bed in the garage and all the bedding.  I also found some shelves that we hung in our old house in the basement when we were cleaning it up.  BONUS!!  It all just has to be put together.  

Usually every New Year I have a fitness goal and last year I did awesome! I lost 25 pounds before getting pregnant!! I was really on a roll and I am planning on starting up right where I left off after the baby comes and I am cleared for exercise.  

So this year I am not officially making any resolutions but with a second baby coming soon, I do have some things I want to keep in mind:

1. Don't stretch myself too thin. 
2. Say no to things and don't feel guilty.
3. Be more patient.
4. Yell less.  (as i write that I am yelling at PB. it's a work in progress)
5. Take lots of pictures and make sure I am in some of those.
6. Try to clean a little everyday. 
7.  Ask for help. 

I think that if I can do those things and only those things, it will be a good year. I can only imagine how hard it is going from one kid to two kids so I am not going to put too much pressure on myself.  You might see less of me here, and I am OK with that. 

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!! See you for Orange Friday and then stay tuned for PB's big boy closet reveal!!
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