Five Foot Two

What's on your night stand?

Recently, I cleaned out my bedside table. I have been cleaning out everything so that I can feel just a little bit in control of my life, because I am obviously not in control of my belly size.....

In the process I started to wonder what other people may have on their night stands?

Here is a picture of what books sit on my beside table. Six months ago, this picture would have been very different. I am sorry I don't have a before picture, to compare.

 

The top book is a novel, I promise.... Not my life story. hee-hee

The multiltude of baby books moved out my Florence Nightingale biography.

bummer.

 But seeing as though I haven't read it after it sitting there for quite some time, maybe that was a good thing.

I usually have the books in a darling basket, but I took them out for the photo op. My side of the bed also has our favorite clock, (It is not in the photo either).

 The reason- It is really ugly but very practical.

 I hide it in the basket, because it illuminates the time of day onto the ceiling of our bedroom. 

 We LOVE it!

 We have had it for years, It is one of my favorite gifts to give. It basically means that you don't really have to lift or turn your head to see the time.

 Very nice..... or really lazy.....

Get yourself one.

I wanted to get one for a dear friend for her birthday, but I realized she is practically blind without her glasses or contacts, so that might not work to well. : ( 

 Although with our clock you can make the time 3 feet high on the ceiling,

 but the room may also be way too bright at that point!

 Get yourself one, if you aren't half blind without your glasses at night.: )

Making a nursery....

So what comes in the last trimester of a women's pregnancy? 

The urge to purge....

Maybe I need to rephrase, what has happened in my last trimester of MY pregnancy? 

The URGE to PURGE....

(The contents of my home)

It could have a little something to do with the fact that one of my best girlfriends called me a hoarder. 

A HOARDER. 

    (Like on Oprah? I replied.)

 I think my tone might have been one of disbelief.

Oh come ON.... (went the conversation) I would not be on her show!!!!

But, with a new eye I gazed around my home.

 I like how it looks, decorated and homey, 

yet deep in the bowels of my closets and under the beds and in the drawers,

I don't like it. 

I am a jammer.

 I jam stuff in places to get it out of sight.

 So that my living space is darling and homey, to me.

 That way I am not reminded of all the stuff I have hidden.

So, I set off on a quest to purge. With the title HOARDER hanging over my head, I have cleaned out many a nook and cranny. Now, this has taken quite a bit of time and help from my HOARDER calling friend. But, IT FEELS GOOD.

Now the day I set aside to organize the bill stacks and the filing cabinet. 

THOSE 8 HOURS, did not feel good, at all.....

A picture of the gigantic mess, so that I won't let that happen again....

 

 

And the wide angle....

 

 

Aggh, It gives me heart palpitations just looking at it.

 So this day lead to about a million pounds of paper that needs shredding. I found a local company that will come to your house the day that you call and pick up and shred your papers as you watch.

  i am in love.

Now, I just have to clean out the filing cabinet a little more, and then I am calling them next week.

 I promise!

In the meantime I will give you some before and after shots of our third bedroom, 

which has become the nursery. 

I redid the third bedroom not too long ago, 

to make it a nice spare bedroom and I am a little sorry to see it go. : (

 

If you look closely you can see the blue walls. Here was a dilemma....

Do I repaint the room for the newest girly member of the family,

 or do I leave the practically new (but blue) paint on the walls? 

 

 

What is a hormonal gestating woman to do?

I left it.

 I think I am okay with it. What do you think?

 Here are some pictures of the new (but blue) girly nursery!

 

 

This I would consider STAGE ONE. I don't have everything yet,

 but it is a good beginning. 

Some things that are my favorites....

The mobile I bought for myself about a year and a half ago. 

Never imagining I would have a baby anytime soon to enjoy it with.

 I think I have blogged about it before.

 

The VERY girly crib skirt made of pink tulle, to look like a ballerina tutu. Could you die?

 

 So, with much work in there to do. I better get to it! 

Have a great day!

Love, the hoarder 

things i am crushing on....

things I am crushing on,

besides the dh,

(he has hair again!)

 praise the heavens....

 Here a few things that have caught my eye lately.

a new sink,

a sexy couch from anthropologie,

lamps shades that jake the cat can't make out with at 3 in the morning.

 I think they are too tall for him to rub on!!

If only I married a millionaire,

 *with even more hair*

Just kidding honey....

Oh, who am I kidding, he never reads my blog.

thank goodness....

mrs. fix it....

so, today it is 3 am and i have already fixed two plumbing fixtures in the house....

that might be a record.

i must confess that my eyeballs popped open at 1 am after a day of sleeping after work. and there was no hope of falling back asleep.....

so what did i do? i set out to install a new toilet flushing lever, and fix a faucet that has no water pressure.

i love home improvement projects that i can tackle by myself. i get that from my mom.

about half way through the faucet fix i lost my steady companions (our two fur-lines). they hiked it back up to the cozy bed with the dh, after a snack. they aren't stupid.

i found a website for easy do it yourself answers for dripping faucets, running toilets, whatever your problem and i had a couple.... 

now, the full guest bath has a new toilet lever. quite a stylish one if i do say so myself, and the half bath has a great stream of water now to wash your hands in. instead of a pathetic trickle.  yahoo!!!

three fist pumps for an awesome start to a weekend!!

butterflies a flitter....

I passed by a store and saw something in the window that caught my eye.

 i loved it.

 i bought it. 

Did I mention that I bought something for me, at a kid store? 

 i feel a little silly....(no, i will try not too.)

So here it is....

a chandelier of butterfly's

In my guest room! 

I love it. The dh (darling husband) really likes it.

i just hope everybody else doesn't think I am a nut job.

They are beautiful, they spin and turn with the light...

i think i may just lay here and daydream for awhile.

go out and get yourself one!

bare-root love...

So for the past year, i have been wanting to re-do our courtyard  plantings. Of course I plant annuals in the spring for fun, but along the sides we have margarites. I have a love/hate relationship with them. They are great green foliage in early spring like right now, but then they send out daisy like flowers twice a year that brown and die and look horrendous for a great part of the summer. I have tried trimming, and cutting back, but the dang plants don't die. And now, they are a beautiful greenery again. 

huumph.shrug. 

So, my big idea was to plant roses like this along the perimeter of our patio....

I am into white flowers right now, kind of have been for awhile.... something about a garden at night with the flowers glowing in the moonlight. Or it just satisfies my strong desire for things to match. : )

I couldn't really tell you which one.

So, I am at the beginning of my quest. I planted my first bare-root roses a couple weeks ago.

The process was fun, a little time consuming but I learned a lot along the way. I am going to take it slow. praying they stay alive. I decided to only plant two. That way my heart won't be totally broken if/when they die & neither will our bank account.

But, the catch is, I did not rip out any of the godawful margarites to plant the new roses. dang it. Those things are going to take a crane to rip out of the ground. I tried. and tried some more. but no luck. The bare-roots are going to join the ?*!#*!! margarites this year. and i am going to have to pull up my big girl panties and deal with it.

So here it is, one on each side. Can you even see them?  not really.

Let's hope they make it. We have had a whole week of rain so someone is watching out for them already.

NOTE: I apologize for an ugly garden. It was the beginning of February when I took these. Notice the blooming foliage on the right and left sides..... *?#@!!! plants!

Crown moulding one on one....

 I {heart} the look of crown moulding. I have been wanting to install some in my home, somewhere. I just could not decide where and how. So the other weekend I had a bee in my bonnet to do a 'fast' home improvement project. MOST of my home improvement projects are done solo. I enjoy it. He really doesn't. That solves that. Except when two people are needed....... So enter my mom (usually). thanks mom. She enjoys it too. i think.... But here is where the bee really started buzzin'. I wanted to do something.... like THAT day. My Mom is in Southern California..... no buddy in sight. It looks like I am going to  go solo.....

 I took a lovely trip to my local LOWE'S Home improvement store. I really {heart} LOWE'S. Granted, I grew up half living in a Home Depot, getting this and that with my mom. She likes to make and do just like I do. I wonder where I got it from?  But since finding a LOWE"S, I prefer to go there. It is much more user friendly, much cleaner, and they seem to have a bigger variety of things for my level of home improvement. As I wondered the aisles, I found this stuff. Polyurethane crown moulding. SAY what? 

It is light and has great definitive designs within the molding, and it takes half of the time. I was ALL OVER THAT! $60.00 and an hour later, I had decided to do this.....

 

To my dining room.

It only has two walls, it is open to the room next to it. So that worked out well.

That afternoon it was done. waalah. All by myself. What a rush.  I used a lot of painters tape to hold up my eight foot long segments, but it worked. I had it completely done by that evening, touch up spots and all. Is it absolutely perfect? no. But, what would there be to look forward to the next time, if I did it perfect the first time?

One thing that they suggest you do, is to pick a width that is larger than you want, because by the time it is installed it will look smaller. (Very true). By using the polyurethane style and the ability to skip a step in the installation process, I was unable to go as wide as I would have liked. bummer. It does look way smaller than I would have liked. But to get it wider I would have had to pay someone to install it. That would have meant, that it would not have been done THAT day. So instead I spent $60 bucks and an afternoon. I think the sense of accomplishment was worth the trade off in the end.

So if you are at all interested in doing this.... you can! I know you can! and I can come help.....

A pineapple upside down cake recipe & A little home improvement...

Pineapple upside down cake is my mom's favorite. So I searched a blog that a friend had recently turned me on to and found this great recipe. It called for ground almonds, so I needed to get out my cuisinart power duet. That was really fun!

Like my Kitchen Aid, I have not really had a chance to use the Cuisinart that much. Okay, Okay, if I cooked more, I would have had an opportunity to use it. I must admit, I am really really spoiled in the not having to cook department. : > Love that dh. But, someday I know my cooking days will come. Oh, how I dread it already. (hee-hee) Martha Stewart- close your ears.

So in rounding out my ultimate home making, keeping and home improvement abilities, yeah right...... my mom helped me install molding or chair rails to a room in the house. It was relatively easy (when you have a pseudo professional woodworker with you). It only took one evening and the next morning to complete. I am considering continuing the look to the dining room next door. Dh close your ears. : >
The whole project cost was $80. AWESOME. Here are some pictures.

My mom and I are available for hire! j/k