I met someone, and some other notes on life

Here's the deal. I had this thing about trying to have pictures in every post. I like pictures and honestly sometimes I don't even read the words of other people's blogs. I just scroll through the pictures when I'm in that kind of mood. I haven't been good about making time and taking them and as a result I haven't been posting as much. I feel guilty about not posting and then I avoid my blog altogether which means I post even less. Sometimes I even start a post and then quit halfway through. It's a vicious cycle.  In good news I'm over it. Back to that post I meant to post on Monday (now with corrections to reflect the fact that it's Wednesday).

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Mostly decisions about cloth diapering.

I tend to get stalled out when there is a decision to be made. Like the whole reason our house is a mess is that the things that are lying around don't have an obvious home yet (you'd like they would after a year and a half of living in The Parsonage, but they don't) and that means I have to make a decision before I can do anything productive with them. In actuality what it means is that I stack things in piles of things I need to make decisions about. Lots of little piles of decisions lying around waiting, hoping that maybe someday they will find a home.

This would annoy the crap out of some people (like my husband). It bothers me, but not enough to drive actual decision making most of the time. I really like to get things right and he likes to hold me to decisions once I make them (why exactly do the plates need to continue to belong in the same place just because I thought that's where they went last month?).

In addition to object placement/home organization issues this is a bit of a problem since parenthood involves lots of decisions. As usual I'm good with the big ones. It's the little things that get me. I've been trying to come to some sort of conclusion about diapers for months and its go time on this one since our shower is coming up and I want to make sure we're registered for what we really want (I say we, but Austin has put me in charge of this decision).

I HATE the idea of using regular disposables since I really prefer not to leave a mass of waste that will be roughly the size of a small iceberg and last for the next 600 years as a result of my child's need to poo and my need to contain it. I just can't handle it. And I'm not judging you if you do. I continually keep things I really should throw away because I feel bad about throwing them away. That and there is a crap-ton of money to be saved by using cloth. Like $4000 for two kids even when you include the water and energy to wash those cloth diapers. One decision down. No big deal.

But that's also where it gets all decision-y. If you just use disposable diapers like normal people you go to the store, you buy whatever is cheap, or your friends recommend, or you try different brands until you pick a favorite. You throw them away continuously so one little decision really doesn't matter. If you pick an alternative you're a little more constrained. Especially if it's a cloth type which generally involves a significant up-front investment and you plan on keeping it for the long haul. And then there are issues around whether or not you can find a child care provider willing to go with your hippy dippy, non-dispoable diapers. Some just won't and I get that. That's the other decision I need to work on and maybe I should get on it first since the result influences this one, but I feel pretty strongly on this one and I think I'm just going to have to find someone who will at least work with cloth.

Well maybe I'll call the suggestions I've gotten and ask them something like the questions thebump recommends for interviewing caregivers, but lets just focus on the diapers for now.

I have a friend with an entire gDiaper set up she offered to sell me months ago when she first found out I was pregnant. I wasn't sure about it based on the aforementioned child care provider-cloth diaper conundrum. But the impending shower has pushed me to make an actual decision. I did some internet searching and found an awesome series on gDiapers call gWhiz - gDiapers 101 written by Emily at Joyful Abode. The very first post on why she chose gDiapers sealed the deal for me.

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I'm getting them.

My friend has a ton of each size so I'll just get the pants and liners from her, but Emily is helping me figure out what other stuff I need to add to the registry. Hopefully I'll finish that up by the end of the week since the shower is only two weeks from Saturday and I figure people might start checking that out soon. At least the ones who aren't like me and take their first look at the registry in Target 2 hours before the party. Tell me you procrastinate on gifts too.

I also need to pick out a sling so if any of you are baby wearers I would love to get some opinions.

Birth Announcements

Up until pretty recently I was really good about staying up-to-date with my thebump.com pregnancy checklist. Then I started to let things slide and now I have six crying babies on my hands.

I know. We're at week 35 already.

I have several of these planned, but not completed. Like that haircut. I'm getting it when my mom comes for the shower. And getting the stuff we still need for the baby. I'm thinking we can let that one wait until after the shower too. 

I really probably should work on that child care one though. I've only been avoiding it since I originally called around about it in January (oops). But today, I'm just not in the mood for that. I need a little something fun. Hence, birth announcement.

Austin and I haven't talked about these at all. We skipped the whole newspaper wedding announcement and generally aren't into announcing things. People who need to know do and people who see us less often don't. That's just kind of how we roll. That said, there are people we love who really like to have and keep this sort of stuff forever. I'm thinking something that exists digitally and we can print a few copies of is the best way to go.

How does a girl like me go about picking a birth announcement?

Run by Target and see what they have?

Good guess. Very my style for lots of things, but when it comes to the little bundle my personalized, custom, awesome inclinations have completely taken over.

Pinterest it is.

I found several that I like certain aspects of, but I really want them to reflect both my style and Austin's. I know. I'm growing up. I'm actually taking into consideration the opinions of the other person who contributed. Yay me. So basically I'm talking something with a sci-fi reference, pink damask, and infographics. That's not so hard, right? Okay, maybe not.

I pinned several and here's what I noticed.

• I like ones with pictures of the kid - people really want to see the baby you know?
• I like ones with stats - they want the stats too
• I like ones that are a little more graphic than I would have expected.

So far my two faves are this one from Westwillow

(I don't really think we're a "welcomed with love" type of couple, but I'm sure we could switch that up a bit)

and this template from birdesign.

It's got bright colors AND a bird on it. Austin really likes anything with a bird on it.Not so sure about "I'm here and I'm really cute," but I'm sure we can come up with something witty. I don't know if it needs quite so many pictures on the back, or any really. Maybe just the stats on the back and one great photo on the front.

There is just one issue with all of this. I need at least one great shot of her in order to make them work. Hmmm.

Love Without Boundaries

I was going to post this yesterday, but my internet was down.

I know! It was tragic.

I was also going to actually take pictures of a project and post about that, but my camera's battery was dead.

Double tragic.

In good news, she already raised more than enough for the incubator in a single day. I'm sure they could use the funds for any of their other great projects though so don't let that stop you from donating.

I try. Really. I do.

Unfortunately I try a little too hard at the doing and not quite hard enough on the blogging about doing. If you came by my house I could show you a whole bunch of projects I've busted out. I just can't seem to remember to take pictures so you can see the awesomeness.

I wrote this whole post and then some miscommunication between my phone and the Blogger website erased half of it. I'm really struggling to find the motivation to rewrite it. 

This weekend in picture. I'll let you guess at what they mean.

My Life's Calling

Last night I went over to my aunt and uncle's house to check out a couple of items my aunt thought I might want before she hauled them off on free dump day. One of them was a roll top desk. Ever since I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

Before you get all disgruntled about my obsession with painting wood it's not a roll top desk.

It's a roll top desk.

It's in dire need of a makeover. You can see how this one turned out at The Olde Farmhouse on Windmill Hill.
 
I did a little google image searching and found this one from European Paint Finishes which I LOVE. (I'm sure you can guess why.)

I have a fabulous plan and if I had time to get it done I would try to sneak it into a friend's Tulip Festival booth for sale in a couple of weeks.

That's right. I'm obsessing about a piece of furniture I don't even intend to keep. I just want to paint and sell it. That's where we get to the life's calling part of this whole story.

I was born to make ugly things pretty. Mostly wood things and mostly by painting them.

It took me a while to figure this out, but its totally true and I'm just going to go with it and try to work it to the fullest by actually finishing projects so that I can move on and spread more joy and attractive furniture. Not to worry babe. I'm finishing up my current projects first. I promise.

On another note. Apparently Pier 1 Imports in following me on Pinterest. I'm sure this is social marketing/research, but I'm going to tell myself it's because I have such fabulous taste they want to know what I think since I always want things 6 months before they come out in stores.

Yellow Elephants

Remember when I said I've developed a thing for off-color animals?

Like the green giraffes on this quilt from Linen and Thread

Or the pink paisley elephant I found at Pier 1 while I was inspiration shopping?

Or these super cute animal flash cards from LoopzArt

Okay, they're mostly accurately colored, but the mouse and the wolf aren't and they have a yak, and nutria, AND a unicorn. Seriously, have you ever seen a more adorable yak? No, you haven't.

I made some of my own.

Well, technically I had my mom paint them while she was here for Hibbs House Project Week. When she started they looked like this.

I'm pretty sure I painted them in 4-H ceramics when I was like 12. Nice dry brushing, huh? I was hardcore.

Now they have several coats of Sun Yellow paint. I think they're super cute.

Another Round of Weekend Projects

I worked on another round of projects this weekend. And once again I failed to take the time to take good pictures (these are the ones I sent to my mom from my phone) or write posts. I really must work on that. I swear I'll write actual posts on all these projects in the near future I'm just so busy trying to get them done.