I'm proud to say baby Violet Ruth graced us with her presence on July 5. She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs 10 ozs, 3 lbs less than her big brother. I have to admit, when they brought her around the curtain for viewing I had to ask, "Are you sure that's her? She's awfully tiny."
However, she is perfect. 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a hefty set of lungs.
Big brother is so proud and excited to have her here with us. He runs by constantly and kisses her tiny head or holds her tiny fingers. Just this morning he ran into our bedroom at 5:30 am to bring her a stuffed animal to put into her bassinet and give her a kiss on the forehead before using the bathroom and heading back to his bed to go back to sleep. Now if that wasn't just the sweetest site. He was groggy and wobbly, but still just excited to know she is home.
He is so excited in fact that he wanted this action shot taken. His favorite bunny hopped into the photo just as it was taken. I'd have to say Ben is going to be one fabulous big brother.
Some have asked where we came up with the name Violet Ruth. I petitioned for Olivia, but Ken was dead set on Violet. Since I named Benjamin, I thought it only fair to hand the name card over to Ken. Ruth is Ken's maternal grandmother.
I can do this. This pregnancy has been completely different than the first. Plus, it does not help that I am pregnant in the heat of the summer here in Florida.
But, I can do this! Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.
With just weeks until the arrival of the new addition to our family, Ben has said a few things that really make me stand back, smile, and laugh. It makes me happy to think we will be starting this journey all over again with baby number 2.
As mentioned, with just a few short weeks to go until the new bean arrives the fun stuff is beginning to happen to my ever changing body. Like swelling. Especially to my face and ankles.
Short story. My mom came over last week for a quick visit and the first thing out of her mouth is, "Wow. You look terrible. Your face is really starting to look fat." Now if that doesn't make a pregnant woman feel beautiful I don't know what will. Later, after she leaves, Ben comes to sit down beside me and tells me, "Mommy, you don't look fat. You look good" and gives me a big hug and kiss before he goes off to play.
I'll take what a 4 year old says any day, because you know they always "tell it like they see it."
And earlier as I was folding laundry, unloading the dishwasher, and searching for something to make for dinner I plopped poor ole Ben in front of the boob tube to watch UP. A few short minutes I hear him say, "Mama, that boy asks a bunch of questions like I do."
It made me stop a minute to let out a belly busting laugh.
Little man and I went for a walk and she decided to tag along.Some where along the way she was distracted by a bird. We thought, "She'll just catch up."
Wrong answer.
We made it home, but Irene did not.
My plan... walk a 4 block radius and call for her until she comes running.
Just a note to let everyone know that we are doing well and hanging in there. I have had Ken painting, moving thermostats, well... just doing all kinds of things trying to get the house ready for the new addition.
They make you wait, and wait, and wait... just so you can spend 5 minutes with 'em. Like my time isn't as valuable as theirs. Then they really goof up. They scheduled my appointment with an ultrasound tech only not to have me put on the schedule after all. No one wants to take the blame, it is always "someone else's fault."
I really hate that.
After 2 hours of driving and sitting and waiting and my five minute visit, I get to come home to find a cute little package on my front doorstep.
Thank you Beth! I love them, especially the squirrels and the dots.
Now I hope it's a girl and not another goof up on their part!
I can not believe the wee man is 4 years old. It just seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital.
We had a little party and his cousins came over. Lots of fun and at the end of the night before going to bed Ben said to me, "Mama, I don't want to grow up. Put a brick on my head so I will stay little and you'll keep feeding me my supper."
Dear husband started this project in fall/winter of 2008. It was suppose to be a weekend project, but then he hit a few snags.
To start... we have this little walk through in the back of the house. It is almost like a small hallway (maybe 3'x4'). It separated the backdoor "mudroom" from the back bedroom. Really it was a waste of space. However, one of those walls backed up to another waste of space. This one being a closet in the little man's room that was almost 6' deep.
So what do we do? We reclaim the space of course. This is where the project became time consuming. Poor Ken... when he goes to knock out the wall he finds that it is the original exterior wall to the house. Long story short, after more than eight months and lots of trips to the hardware store I finally have a laundry room and Ben has a use-able closet.
During construction:
My new laundry room:
Thanks babe! No more trips to other peoples houses, the laundromat. I can wash clothes and fabric whenever I want!
Here she is... Irene Adler, better know by all of the neighborhood dogs as Irene the Terror.
A little wink for you...
We have only recently been letting Irene out of the house. Well, we are not really letting her out. She actually bolts when the door is opened for longer than 60 seconds.
Honestly, I have never seen such a territorial cat, a female cat at that. When other cats come around she puffs up, growls, and charges them off of the property. There is only one cat who does not tolerate this and that is our neighbor's cat. He is three times her size, but she does not let that scare her, she puts up a fight until I come out and "shoo" him off the porch.
However, the neighborhood dogs are a different story. She still puffs up, and growls, but instead of just chasing them to the property line she has actually chased two dogs down the street. One day I am afraid she will chase the wrong dog.
In the meantime, all you dogs in East Hill, take a good long look at her so you know what she looks like. And when you get to our house, cross the street and walk on the other sidewalk.
We finally made it after years of planning. Can you believe it?
Here is a photo of Ben on his first international flight.
He was just amazed they served us food (no matter how bad it tasted) and that he had his own television to watch. Thank you Cartoon Network.
We enjoyed our time in Ericeira (how little it was). My MIL kept us in the car and site seeing. Bless her heart. I thought she knew we were on vacation and wanted a little R&R. Oh well. We now know our way around the northern portion of Portugal, and the next time we go we will be on our own and doing a little more relaxing.
The in-law's condo was wonderful. Perched at the top of the village overlooking the crisp blue oceans of the Atlantic. I could have sat on the veranda with a glass of wine in hand every day for the entire trip.
Our first day we did a little walking around the village to get our bearings.
I love how many of the houses had tiled fronts. Every house was very different, very unique. And look at how short the door was. Just so you know... the people still have not grown much taller in the last who knows how many years.
The oldest discoteque in Ericeira.
The wall of cats. Literally cats lived on this wall. It was neat to see how they maneuvered around the shallow ledges.
On our first weekend in Portugal we ventured into Lisbon. We were suppose to see an Iberian Mask Parade, but did not make it do to two other processions that were taking place on the same day. Lisbon was a mad house that weekend. We did make it to the aquarium and to a small castle to see a Piratas (pier-a-thash) exhibit. The small castle was the first one sailors would see as they entered the Tagus River from the Northern Atlantic Ocean.
After leaving Homosassa Springs Ken and I were not quite ready to get home. The weather was perfect and we were enjoying our family time. So we decided to drive. We had no particular place to go, it just had to be off of Highway 19. We drove for about two hours and started to get worried that we would not be able to find a place to stay until we go to Tallahassee and we absolutely knew we did not want to stay in Tallahassee.
Suddenly I saw a sign that said, "Cedar Key 24 miles, lodging" and we took a chance.
We got off the main highway and drove along a two lane street for about half an hour when we saw this.
We saw a little town, they were having an art show and thought that this was perfect. Of course finding a room on a tiny, tiny island was challenging. Most of the lodges were taken up by the artists. We happened to come across the very last hotel (with two rooms left) on the corner of the island, the farthest point from the art show (keep in mind, the island is maybe 2 miles wide) and took one. Who could resist it? Check out the view from our window.
Once unpacked we hoofed it down to the show just in time to take a peek around and then made our way to the marina area for some delicious food, good music, and a beautiful sunset.
Leaving the next day was almost sad, but then we remembered it is only 5 hours from our home and we will definitely be visiting there again.
Ken, Benjamin, and I left my sister's house early Saturday morning and made our way to the Homosassa Springs State Park that afternoon. There was fun had by all.
Benjamin was absolutely excited about seeing the huge "sea cows".
Cute family shot when we entered the park.
Silly Ben. Silly papa.
Ben and mama.
Silly ole Ben.
And after a long day visiting with the fish, the manatees, and all the other wildlife at the park someone was ready for a nice long nap.
Dear hunny bunny and I have had four legged babies for 14+ years. My husband had Daisy well before we met and then he got me Blue when we were dating. Blue, my ole great dane, passed in 2007 at the age of 11 and Daisy followed a year later at the age of 15.
So after more than a decade with furry babies, why would I think getting a cat would be a good idea?
So the family has been gone this last week or so on a very unexpected trip. We went to south Florida to visit with the cousins. Benjamin had a blast, mommy did a lot of fabric shopping and papa worked (what's so new about that).
I did a small bit of crafting. I made the boys some pirate patches and I say there were a huge hit.
I also found little swords, pirate chest, and strings of beads that played the roll for treasure. A week later and I still heard, "walk the plank", "scurvy pirate", "my treasure"! It was too sweet for words.
Here are a few things I picked up for myself.
I love this new magazine Stuffed. While I am not a stuffie maker, I may have to try some of the items posted in this magazine.
Oh and the Alexander Henry fabric is the real deal, not the 2009 reproduction. I love the black background. I have no idea what I will make with it, but it has to be something fun!
This past weekend the family went on a long weekend to NYC for a little getaway. I won't say it was meant to be relaxing because it wasn't.
Here is a photo of Ben's first ride on a train.
He was amazed. He loved riding the trains and subways that I think we could have spent the whole trip underground.
I did not include any airplane shots because... well lets face it. Ben is a well seasoned veteran of the skies! Going to NY was his sixth or seventh time on a plane and he was bored with it.
Ben celebrated his third birthday last week and as a little extension of his special day we decided to take our little monkey to see the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History.
He was so excited that you almost could not see him.
Other random shots from that fun filled and exhausting day.
Again I want to thank the great folks at ESC for letting us stay at the company apartment while visiting the city. Hope we didn't leave it in too much of a mess.
We are homeowners once again, back in our little town of Pensacola. I have to admit, I never saw us coming back to Florida in a million years.
Dear hunny bunny sold me on having the grandmas close by to babysit. Lets just say that one is in Portugal and one is working too many hours to watch the wee man. I will just consider this investing in our future.
Of course, we are still young and maybe we will move again in a few more years. I think we will keep this house though. It's two blocks off the bay in a super neighborhood.
Do not laugh at the photo. I know it looks rough, but we have an exterior paint job lined up along with yard work.
We are still not settled, but we do have our eye on a house. Fast huh?!?
I will keep you posted on the house.
In the meantime, here are a few pictures I took before we left for Suisse. I think we were in town for a whopping 6 days before we left. This is how we spent an afternoon.
The two favorite men in my life at the bay front.
Dear hunny bunny. Shhh... don't tell him I posted his photo.
The wee man.
Wow. This photo is of the blades from the turbines you see producing energy. The photo does not really show you how BIG these babies really are.
We made it to Florida from North Carolina, but the question is... Where next?
We are staying in my mom's little cottage. Little being the operative world. It is only about 650 square feet. Cozy I guess you could call it.
I never thought I would see myself back in Pensacola, but now that we are here it is not too bad... just a little bad. The grandma's helping with the wee man are nice I have to admit.
Also the housing prices here are nice too. So maybe, just maybe we'll stick around for a while.
I love you dear hunny bunny. It has been a blissful 9 years and I look forward to many, many more.
We have had lot going on in the last few weeks with packing and looking for a new place (for those of you who do not know, we have sold our house), that this day has almost passed us by. Though we did not buy each other a trinket of love, this is what I send to you...
So that was an interesting challenge on Episode 2 .
Letting the models do the shopping. Who thought of that idea? I thought it was hilarious to see these girls running around buying 1 yard of this and 1 yard of that. I know they are thin, but whew! Hold on, I have to get a tissue to wipe away the tears I was laughing so hard.
Okay. Okay. So Suede won the competition, but what an idiot. Poor thing. Trying to look cool talking about himself in the third person to everyone else but the judges because he knows how absolutely retarded he sounds.
Good-bye dear Wesley. We never really got to know you. So I have nothing good or bad to say about you.
We have a contract on the house, again. This one looks like it will stick. We had the inspection yesterday. Things went well. Now we are just waiting for the go ahead from the buyers to start our packing process.
Oh wait... but where are we going? We have no idea.
We have been to Asheville. Twice. No luck on finding a home. Or rental.
We have been to Pensacola. It was hot. Very hot. There is however a family house that we can stay in until we get our bearings together. And figure out... where next.
My vote was Maine. Hunny bunny said, "No. Too cold."
Then I said, "Austin. Chicago, Peoria, Charlotte..."
Hunny bunny said, "Hmmm."
That is the problem with him working from home. We can live anywhere. Too many options.
For now. I guess it is Florida. Why not. At least we have a place to put our things. A very small place to put our things. Well, most of our things. Some things I think will have to go to storage.
But wait. We will not be in Florida for that long before having to come back to Greensboro for our month long little working vacation in Europe.
Wow. Stress. I know Europe should be fun, but what timing.
Dear hunny bunny and I have never been huge television fans, but with TIVO... TV is made easy. I have wasted more time watching commercial free television then sewing lately. Uh-oh. Maybe we should not renew our contract and cancel our cable.
Okay.
So I had high expectations for Jerry Tam, but he was "out" in the very first episode.
The first package I received was a couple of crafty booklets that I had been admiring for sometime now. I could not find them local, so I had to order them through Ebay.
So I belong to this swap group on Flickr called "A little fabric, a little chocolate."
I received my package today and whoa boy did junienone go all out! Here is a photo of the 'goods' she sent me.
You may be asking yourself, but where is the chocolate? In my profile I mention I am not a huge chocolate fan and she sent me the wonderful chewy sweet tarts (my favorite, how did she know) and chewy sprees (also close to the top of favs).
What a great way to start a day!
She is also a wonderful quilt maker. Check out her Etsy shop here and be sure to support makers of handmade goodies!
Ken may laugh that I will spend a good part of the day (at least once a week) at the local 'junk shops', but hey... you just never know what you will find.
Like this drum kit for instance.
$10 bucks and Ben loves it... so it makes it all worth while.
Oh. Ben was not sweating like a rock star, it was a pop-icey explosion!
Mary, Mary, quite contrary... How does your garden grow?
Why?
By the square foot of course!
Dear hunny bunny built me two great planters and two wonderful compost bins over the Memorial holiday weekend. They are great, very economical, and earth friendly.
I hope this works. I was really getting excited after reading his book that I purchased from the thrift store for ten cents.
Here are a few photos for your entertainment.
And of course, Ruby has the new job of keeping squirrels out! She is taking this job very seriously.
Now I just have to figure out what I want to use in between the beds and as a buffer into the yard to make that area a little more aesthetically pleasing (bark, paving stones).
Happy Mother's Days to all you crafty and non-crafty mamas out there in blogland.
Surprise, surprise!!! Dear hunny bunny not only listened to me, but got me something I had been wanting for sometime now... a bigger rotary cutting mat!
As a child, I never had a Barbie (okay, I had one Barbie, but I cut off all of her hair and threw her away a week later) or played with dolls or tea sets, etc. You see where this is going. I was not the average 'little girl' growing up. I was very much a "tom boy" and liked to run around outside every chance I got.
Anyhow, last year I saw her. Blythe was her name, or her manufacturer. Whatever you want to call it. I saw her and thought to myself, I could change my ways. I am a little older, a lot wiser, and a lot more crafty. I feel like at this stage in my life, "I could play with dolls."
So I spent countless hours online, after Ben would go to sleep, searching for 'the perfect girl' for me. I finally found her and 'Tailor Gibson' is her name (or her 'given' name I should say, once we hang out and sew for a bit she will tell me who she really is).
Seen here with her 'hootie' friends, courtesy of Sibi!. Thank you Sibi!
The previous owner shipped her to me in the original box, the only thing she did was trim her bangs. She is cute, but I have an idea that one day she will want to change a little more than her bangs.
Wow! How lucky can one girl get? I can tell you right now, that I am one lucky lady.
After buying my first Gocco last year, I have made a few small runs of gocco'd cards, etc.
Mainly robots. I love robots.
However, I was always scared to 'flash' too many screens. Mainly because the bulbs are so expensive and hard to find. Well, I started doing a little research and found out that in the early 1990's Riso (Gocco's parent company) produced a series of machines that would flash a screen without the use of disposable bulbs. Yep. You heard me correctly. This crazy contraption does not require the toxic, costly, earth hating bulbs!
It does however, take a xenon lamp (like you would find in a thermal imager). Those are a little costly (about $70 beans) in and of themselves, but you can produce over 200 screens with the use of a single (okay dual) bulbs. Well worth it in my opinion.
Okay, okay... so back to the luck factor!
I have been all over the internet in search of this Riso screenfax (that is what they are technically called). I placed ads in Craigslist.com in the cities where I had friends or family who would ship it to me. I even went as far as placing an ad on Ebay's 'want it now' forum.
Well as you know, luck would have it and I found one for sale on Craigslist in Atlanta and the man wanted $150 bucks for it. Eureka! I struck gold!!! Roadtrip here I come. Well the day I am getting ready to drive and pick it up and the man emails me back and said, "Nevermind." What?!? Nevermind?!? How can that be...? I will tell you how that can be. Someone offered him more money and he decided to sell it to the highest bidder, but this is America and he has that right. All I can say is, "JACKA$$!"
After months and months, I had finally given up hope that I would ever see or own one of these beautiful machines.
Then one day, my birthday of all days, I get an email from an Angel. This Angel's name is Andrea. Her email says, "I have a Riso. Are you still looking for one?"
Yes! Yes! I am still looking for one!
I emailed her back immediately. She responded just as quickly. And a deal was made.
She sold it to me for her purchase price from 10+ years ago + shipping. She was just glad to be rid of it as it was taking up space in her studio apartment and she never used it. Her husband was also glad to be rid of it as he has moved it to 4 different states. I guess we will see how my dear hunny bunny feels about it when we have to move it to Florida (if we ever sell this house in NC.)
Today, well today the 'beast' arrived (as Andrea so lovingly called it). I unwrapped it, blew off a little (okay alot) of dust and plugged it in and by George she works! She does need a new pad, but NEHOC has them in stock and one is on its way to me as I type this post.
So, drum roll please....
Here she is... my RISO SP-265! I will call her... I will call her... oh shoot. I do not know what I will call her.
Any suggestions?
Yeah. Now once my new pad arrives, watch out Gocco world. I may just have to brave up and show you what I can do with this bad girl!
Okay. Time for bed. I know what I will be dreaming of tonight.
Well tonight I have decided to break out the old 1950's Columbia turntable and an old Brazilian bossa nova LP to set the mood while I finish some projects.
Little did I know the music would attract some 'company.' Not only did I get a little company, but I also got a show. The music was such a hit that we listened to it for hours. (I guess Ben likes bossa nova.)
It was cute. As soon as the record was over, Ben would jump up and sign, 'more! more! more!'
If you like you could watch a bit of this action on you tube.
Well a few hours later, I was able to finish this sweet little bag for my girlfriend in Seattle. Now I just need to get off of my duff and mail it to her. Because I am sure she is wondering where it is. (Sorry it's so late, but you see what I am dealing with here!)
Also started a little pair of pirate pants for Benjamin (you can see the scraps of fabric around his neck... we have decided to call it his 'business tie'). Actually, I finished the pants, but they were a wee bit big so I will need to fix them another day.
Well another year has past and it has been good to me. I have been told that the older you get the better the years get as well. If that is the case, then bring them on... who am I to argue with that logic?
We kept our celebration very low key. I spent my time at home with my wonderful husband and son.
Benjamin drew me that fantastic card you see. Since Ruby could not sign the card, Ben decided to draw her picture on it for me. ^_^
Talk about love.
I love my husband, I love my son, and I love my dog.
I still have no voice (oh, I did not tell you about that. No worries, it is a dull tale). The weather has turned cold, again. The house is still not clean.
I started with coffee (the breakfast of champions), some cleaning, had a little visit with a neighbor, and more cleaning, then a little sewing, and then more cleaning. When nightfall came the wee man went to bed and dear hunny bunny and I sat down to watch Juno.
What a great movie. Much better than I expected.
My day/night started to look up as twilight was nearing, but the icing on the cake was when Benjamin started crying and I put him in the bed with me. Now many of you may say, "Wha???" Let's just say he was sleepy eyed and giving out love, hugs, and kisses that we may not see the older he gets.
Well, we have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The upstairs bathroom renovation is complete.
Here are some before photos...
Here is a during renovation shot...
This is what was found inside the wall during renovation... could explain why some idiot cut through the beams on the floor.
Drum roll please....
Our finished bathroom!!!
Now some of you may ask... "That was a pretty cool bathroom to start. Why renovate it?"
All I can say is... "Please refer to the 'Blatz' beer can." Looks like someone was drinking on the job and cut through the floor supports on the second floor of the house when they were doing the plumbing and the floor was quickly sinking in.
However, we still have a fabulous and somewhat new bathroom (we kept the original tub and had it refinished). We tried to keep with the feel of the home and I think we achieved that goal pretty well.
Thank you to our wonderful carpenter. (You know who you are)
It turned out to be a wonderful day. I woke up to the most beautiful sight.
When the wee man got up, we got him dressed to play in the snow. He and Ruby had a blast and played for hours. It was cute seeing them chase each other around and around and around.
And check out this cute wee booty in the snow bib!
The snow we had today was my kind of snow. We woke up to its beauty, played until it was time to have some homemade hot cocoa, and it was all melted in time for the wee man's afternoon nap. Oh yeah, and it did not interfere with hunny bunny taking me to a nice Thai dinner and a romp through Home Depot.
The family took a nice long walk around downtown (very, very windy day for a walk), we had lunch at Fincastles (mediocre burgers, but wow did I have two of the best looking guys in the joint sitting at my table), and we topped it all off with a very fun visit to the Greensboro Children's Museum (I got to do the hokie pokie... yee haw).
Why? you ask... because I'm sugar fee of course. My dear hunny bunny and wee man are in the mountains of North Carolina playing in the snow and I... I am here all by my lonesome... YEAH!!!
First break in two years. Do I sound excited? I am. Well, and a little sad. I miss them when they are not here, but on the other hand I can get so much done.
Well I know I have been gone a while, but I am never far away.
We are getting ready to have our upstairs bathroom gutted to the studs and remodeled. This will be our last big project and our home will practically be new. Last year we remodeled the kitchen and downstairs bathroom, this year will be the upstairs bathroom and maybe a central air conditioner (I hope)!
As the demolition and construction come along I will be sure and blog about it.
Other new stuff news:
My wee man had his second birthday this past Saturday. I know, I know... I am a bad mommy as I have no photos of the party to share, but hey... I was behind the scenes making sure everything was running smoothly.
Well, I do have one I can share. The little man got some sweet cash for his birthday from one of the g-ma's down in Florida. So mom, this one's for you.
Also, found a great artist (new to me), and purchased one of her adorable prints.
My other new find was this great pottery piece. Found it at the Goodwill for .99 cents... what a score. It is completely original as it has a little signature in the clay on the bottom. It is probably worthless, but soo cool.
Right now I am using it for a pencil holder, but that may change... hmmm...
Well so much for the "storm of the century". I woke up this morning, looked out my craft room window and was quite disappointed by what I saw. To top it all off... it started to rain and what little snow we did get was washed away by lunchtime.
No love lost however, I was still stocked up and ready to cook something warm and tasty.
I know, I know. I'm sure someone is saying, "It's already a week into the new year and you're just now starting to think about your resolutions."
I'm a procrastinator. What can I say??? As you can see, I've started my list, but have not gotten very far as to what my resolutions will be.
I like writing lists. It keeps me organized and "on track", however when it comes to my resolutions I never know where to begin. That's when I keep it all in my head.
My number one goal for the year: ORGANIZE!
As you can see my crafting space is lacking organization. (Here is a secret... so is the rest of the house.) That one little corner is the happiest "dark space" in my room. I'm just not brave enough to show you the rest. Maybe I'll show you once it is ORGANIZED! ^_^
