My birthday in pictures

Austin complained that since he doesn't have an Instagram account (the horror) he couldn't follow my adventure yesterday. Here it is for those I you who missed out.

Happy birthday to me!!!

Instead of blogging over lunch I'm going on an authentic excursion. You can follow along on Instagram. @amberhibbs

Swan Song

There are four hours left in my twenties.

What am I doing?

Eating homemade Bacon Macaroni and Cheese with peas and plotting a Christmas decor craft project.

:)

Flea Market Polka Dot Rainbow Farmhouse Style

I had a rather important realization this weekend.

I can like a style without it being my style.

Some background is probably in order so you can understand why this is such an ephiphany.

I've been working of figuring out what I want to do with our kitchen for a while since before we bought the house. I've google searched and pinned and I just can't make any decisions. I think I've made them and then I change my mind. And then I change it back.

This weekend I finally realized the problem.

I pin kitchens like this (by the way Di, I think this might meet the criteria for Georgia Plantation Meets Kansas Farmhouse)

                                                                       Source: georgianadesign.tumblr.com via Amber on Pinterest

and this

                                                                                         Source: instyle.com via Amber on Pinterest

and this

                                                                                            Source: bhg.com via Amber on Pinterest

but what makes my heart smile is things like this

Source: Real Simple, www.realsimple.com

and this

                                                                                             Source: etsy.com via Amber on Pinterest

The reason I keep feeling meh about kitchen ideas is that they are beautiful kitchens for someone who is not me. I had this idea that I was elegant and timeless, but in reality I'm just way more fun than that (not unlike my realization about my blog name).

I tried to come up with a way to describe what I actually style is and "Flea Market Polka Dot Rainbow Farmhouse Style" was the most suscint thing I could come up with.

So I googled "polka dot kitchen" and found a ton of hideously over the top stuff, and this one lovely image

                                                                                                    Source: flickr.com via Amber on Pinterest

It's not quite what I'm going for, but it's a hell of a lot closer to matching who I am than my previous attempts. We'll stick with it for now.

Finally. Or Who Knew Buying Blind Brackets Could be so Hard

That's right. It took way longer than expected but I finally put up the blinds in our bedroom. Who knew such a little thing could take so freaking long to get done. 

I'm pretty sure they've been down since before I gave birth. I was so excited I took a picture and sent it to my mom. If she wasn't as obsessed with house stuff as I am she would think I'm nuts.

I tried to cross this one off the list the very first day of my Projects rampage. I stopped into Home Depot over lunch the very next day. They didn't carry the fancy smancy bracket I needed for my pleated blinds. The guy I talked to suggested I find out the brand of the blinds and contact them. Good thinking, right?

I went home and looked at the blinds that night. They didn't list a brand, but they did have a sticker that said "www.decoratetoday.com." The site automatically forwards you to www.americanblinds.com. I think they bought out decorate today or maybe they just changed their name. I don't really know. I tried searching for replacement parts on the website. After a while I gave up and just called them.

Guess what the lovely woman who answered my call told me?

They don't sell replacement parts.They have the parts and they will send them to you if your order was missing them or they broke, but you can't just give them money in exchange for them if the blinds came with your house.

Great.

She did give me the names of a couple of websites I could try. If you end up in this situation just go to www.fixmyblinds.com.

That was on October 15th. All I had to do was figure out which bracket was the one I needed and order it.

It only took me 33 days to measure the brackets I had. I placed the order on November 17th and they came in the mail while we were in Denver for Thanksgiving. I installed them first thing Saturday morning. 

Rehang blinds: check!

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Kansas Agriculture and Health Summit

I'm having a hard time verbalizing everything I want to express about my experience yesterday, so bear with me. It was just so awesome and I got so excited that I'm having a hard time organizing it into a coherent set of thoughts. I tried last night, but I couldn't make it work so I'm up early this morning having another go at it.

Deep breaths. Lets start with the context.

Yesterday I went to the Kansas Agriculture and HealthSummit. I got an email early this week promoting it as an event to

 "kick off the conversation in Kansas about the intersection of food, farming, health care and public health" 

If you've read by blog for a while I'm sure you've noticed that food and gardening are two of my passions,but what you probably don't know is that my CV lists my "Research Interests" as

"Human interaction with the environment through agriculture as it relates to the experience of health and disease..."

Are you starting to see why I got all excited yesterday?

I was very interested in talking about agricultural policy and health in Kansas, but it really got me thinking about things a little closer to home.

Like growing food for my family and feeding them the way I want to feed them instead of the default which seems to be eating whatever we can scrap together in the half hour between when I get home and when Norie needs to be fed and put to bed. Don't get me wrong. It's generally been pretty tasty, but it hasn't exactly been produce heavy.

I also got reinspired to help other people with traditional skills like growing food and cooking it and canning and home dairying and sewing and all those things our grandparents know or knew exactly how to do but are incredibly rare skills in my generation.

Don't worry. I'm still really excited about decorating and building and you'll see tons of posts about that you'll just also start seeing more about gardening and food. They all work together in making a family and a home and that's just the stuff that I love to share here.

On my to do list for today:

• Take the puppies and Norie for a walk
• Read this week's entry in my Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener's Handbook and actually do the things it says I should do this week
• Measure for the bracket for those blinds
• Love on Norie
• Work on my Birthday Desk
• Clean the kitchen
• Fold and put away laundry
• Add things to my birthday/Christmas wishlist on Pinterest

I better get started.

Projects Update

I bet you thought I didn't get that owl up, huh? 

You were wrong.

I did it! 

I didn't do it the night I promised myself I would. It got down at about 7:17am the next morning, between collecting the trash and brushing my teeth, but I did do it. The owl now resides on the wall like a respectable piece of art.

 

Now, if I can just get him some buddies and finish the wall art compositions in the nursery.

I'm giving a lecture on my dissertation research to the Anthropology Club at KSU tonight (Hale Library Room 401 if you're interested) so I'm planning any major project progress for the evening. I did just ask Austin if he would measure the bracket so I can order it and rehang that blind. It remains to be seen if Norie will allow it.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Introducing Norie to Solid Food

When Norie was born I planned on exclusively breastfeeding her until she was six months old. That's what the American Pediatric Association recommends and you know how I like to follow the directions. When I did start her on solid food I planned to make sure it was mostly pureed fruits and vegetables I made myself like smushed up sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas and peas.

Then we hit 23 weeks and Norie was waking up every 45 minutes all night long and wanting to nurse every single time. I was worried she had developed a nursing crutch and just couldn't go to sleep unless she nursed. I don't remember exactly how the decision process went (sleep deprivation had some negative effects on my memory), but we started giving Norie infant cereal a couple of weeks ago. 

It is the most amazing thing ever. For both of us.

The first time I tried it she practically lunged out of the bumbo trying to get it in her mouth and ate like she had been starving to death. That night she only woke up three times. It was glorious. Lately she wakes up once, maybe twice a night to nurse, but otherwise is a full and happy camper. She's also drinking more milk than I seem to be able to produce, but that's another issue. 

I've been giving her fruits and veggies too. She's tried bananas, and apple sauce and peas (don't worry Mom, they were all on different days), but so far at least she's not really a fan. She sticks out her tongue to try to get them out of her mouth and makes a horrible face. As a result, the vast majority of her diet consists of breastmilk and infant cereal. She loves it.

 

Solid food is a misnomer. It's more like soquid food. She is a mess. Good thing she eats right before bath time.

UPDATE: Austin just sent me this picture of her response to carrots. I guess she doesn't like them either. 

There is no House Fairy

I attended a webinar a couple of weeks ago by Laura Roeder of LKR Social Media. She made a great point about how you're either going to have to make the time to work on your website or pay someone else to do it. While there is a Graphics Fairy, there is no website fairy that is going to come make it happen without you putting in the money or the time.

It made sense in terms of a website, but I've been noticing that it really applies to just about every aspect of life. You either need to put in the time to do something yourself or pay someone to do it.

There is not generally a no money, no time required option.

Then it hit me yesterday while I was reading a post by my blog bestie, Crystal. It was about the wall art she made from a Restore find and a frame from IKEA.

Source: 29 Rue House, http://29ruehouse.blogspot.com

She made that for $14 bucks in forty minutes. Impressive, right?

Here's the thing though. It still cost $14 and took 40 minutes. I've been lollygagging on my house because I haven't been willing to spend any money to make it into our home. I haven't exactly been putting in the time lately either. Instead of realizing that we are going to have to pay someone to do it or DIY it I've been waiting around like if I waited long enough the House Fairy would come visit and it would just magically happen without me putting in a dime.That's why I haven't made any forward progress on my 25 projects; they all require time and/or money. Most of them both and in what are actually pretty small quantities.


1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom - like $7 and the time to measure the bracket)
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art - $2 for hangers and maybe 1/2 an hour
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch - this one has some serious time needed, but I can pick up pallets for free
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room - $2 to buy a hoop from my neighbor if she still has them and a hour or so
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year - I've spent a year thinking on it so who knows
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers - a good hour
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower - Long enough to find a nail and a hammer
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table - This could be free and take a couple hours if I can convince my daddy to give me the wood
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space - 3 hours, maybe?
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations - I could spend my whole life planning Christmas :)
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge - I finished the last one from this stage in roughly 6 hours. It will probably take $5 in glue, paint, and scrapbook paper.
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.- Buy glue ($8?), thrift for candlesticks
25. Make map mats for vacation photos - $5 for mats and some spray glue.

Tonight, come hell or high water, I am going to hang that owl latch hook in the nursery. Yes, that is the one that requires the least amount of effort, but at least it's something. I've got some other irons in the fire and I'm trying to be realistic

I Had Five Hours of Continuous Sleep

If you really know me you know I can, and will, sleep just about anywhere at any time.

Under a row of seats in an airport? No problem.

On a couch during a party? Absolutely.

In a bar while I'm trying to have a conversation with you? At least once a month back when I went out.

Having a baby has been really hard on my sleep needs. I think my sleep debt was near crisis level a couple of weeks ago when Norie had a cold and was teething and waking up just about every 45 minutes all. night. long.

It was painful. I shouted at my husband. I was a wreck.

I'm not sure if it was getting over the cold, her new sleep sack pajamas or the introduction of solid foods. I'm leaning towards solid foods since she wanted to nurse every single time she woke up, but they all happened at the same time so it's really hard to tell what caused this miraculous change.

The first night she only woke up around 10pm, 1am, and 4am. My mom was a bit distressed when I told her the next morning that she had "only" been up three times the night before. It sounds like a lot if you don't have a kid, but compared to the 9-10 times a night we had been dealing with it was AMAZING. The first time was before I even went to bed. I can totally handle that. I felt super well rested.
 
The next night she did it again and the one after that she only woke up twice. Last night she woke up three or four times before 9pm and I fell sleep nursing her in a chair, but when I woke up around 12:15am I put her to bed in her crib and she didn't wake up again until I was out of the shower this morning. I stayed up watching election coverage and didn't go to bed until 1 so I missed out on almost an hour of sleep, but I still got in 5 whole hours in a row. I don't remember the last time I slept that long, but I'm pretty sure it was in March.

Speaking of election coverage, I'm very happy to know that I wasn't the only person fixated on Flag Head Lady. If you didn't notice her originally, please, please go look. If you don't you'll be late to discover an entire internet meme.

So this whole sleep thing is still a pretty recent development and I've spent the last week recovering rather than working super hard on projects after I put Norie to bed. I am happy to report that at least a couple of projects are off the list. I finished the tablescape in time to have dinner although I didn't take any pictures, cleaned up the porch with the help of my family before everyone arrived and delegated the fixing and painting of the coffee table to my parents. Check, check, and check.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Suffrage

Has everyone you know been saying something they are thankful for every day in November?

Maybe I just have a super grateful group of friends. I've thought about it, but I'm torn. I love gratitude journaling and expressing my appreciation for all the wonderful things in my life, but I'm generally not one for hopping on bandwagons.

I think Gratitude will win out in the end.

Today I'm thankful that I live in a country where I can vote as a woman.

And on that note



I'm also thankful for Lady Gaga. Feel free to think whatever you want about that.