Sunday Funny

At History Club the other week we were discussing ancient Chinese history and the kids did some related art projects. One was to paint a bookmark made of silk (they'd discussed silk worms and the process of making silk), using a special ink and Kool-Aid powder. Weird, but they turned out quite cool.

In any case, I was watching LMS as she worked on hers, and noticed she was holding her hair out of the way. It looked so funny I had to take a couple pictures :)

Craving GAPS

We got another snow storm Sunday! This was taken Sunday afternoon, and by Monday morning there was even more snow.

When the nausea, sensitivity to food smells, and lack of appetite set in around the 6th or 7th week, I knew I was looking at 6-8 weeks of not eating right and just trying to get *some* of the nutrients I need. I wasn't looking forward to it, but knew that given our current situation there really wasn't another option.

While the nausea has let up a lot, I am still struggling with a lack of appetite- food just doesn't sound that good/appetizing. It's been enough of a problem that we've been eating out one meal a day 4 or 5 days a week just to make sure I'm getting enough protein. It's been killing the food budget, but at least I have the energy to still function. We've been alternating between bunless burgers and fries at 5 Guys, burrito bowls at Chipotle, and gluten free pad thai at Noodles and Co.

Uggh. I'm definitely ready to stop eating all that rice and potatoes. Though I have noticed I've been reacting a bit better to the potatoes than the rice. And the rice and potatoes have helped with the nausea, interestingly enough.

My body really wants to be back on GAPS, but my brain/hormones/whatever is causing the nausea and lack of appetite is resisting. I felt so much better when we were doing GAPS, and I want to feel like that again. If only I could get all parts of my body on the same page....

I've set the goal to get back on GAPS the week after Easter. I'll be officially in the second trimester by then and since the nausea has been letting up (it got worse over time, it didn't hit me like a bag of bricks), I have hope that in another week and a half things will have improved enough for me to be able to handle cooking and eating normal food again.

Hopefully my appetite comes back too.

Wow, that's not something I ever thought I'd say.

I wrote that a few days ago, but hadn't posted this yet, so here's a bit more I want to add.

Another reason we need to get back on GAPS? The last few days I've realized that the main source of nausea is the food I'm eating, not the pregnancy. How do I know? It's no longer just nausea, it's the pain in the stomach that comes when I eat something that my body just can't handle. At this point, the main culprit is dairy, though rice products aren't far behind.

I figure if I can get all the foods that don't agree with me out of my system, the nausea should be completely gone and my motivation to do stuff (like prepare and eat real food) should return. I tend to lose motivation to do things when I'm eating foods that don't agree with me, so I'm really thankful I've managed to be as productive as I have been lately.

The Little Miss will deny it, but I know she's looking forward to eating real food again too. Gluten free chicken nuggets and corn dogs have lost their appeal- she's actually been turning them down :)

Easy Pantry Organization

keepin' it real- there's a lot of stuff shoved into the pantry

We have a small pantry in our kitchen, and its contents have changed a bit over the last two years. These days, there's not much actual food in it since most of what we eat is fresh or frozen- not many canned or boxed items any more (other than what we've been eating the last month or so since the nausea took over).

I've been sorting and organizing all the closets and cupboards in the house, and once I finished the coat closet, the pantry was up next.

This was actually pretty quick and easy (in the timeline of my projects, anyway).

empty and ready to be taken apart and painted

I emptied all the stuff- some got thrown away, some went to the basement with the other food storage items, and some got set aside to go back in to the pantry. Then I removed the shelves and carefully pulled the 1x2's off the wall that supported the shelves.

I used some spackle to fix the spots where the 1x2's were attached, then sanded the spots when they dried. Next up was a couple coats of white paint to cover the super dingy builders beige on the walls and door and the dingy shelves.

painted and shelves back in

I installed my favorite shelf strips that I've used all over the house so the shelves would be adjustable. One thing I did that I shouldn't have was that I cut the boards down a little before I installed the shelf strips. I ended up over-estimating how much I needed to cut off and now the shelves are a teensy bit narrow- if they're bumped around too much, they'll fall off the supports. Oops. I'm contemplating spacer options to keep the shelves centered on the supports.

adjustable shelves!

Once that was all done, I was ready to get everything moved back in. I started at the floor and moved upward, so the vegetable bin was first. I added some screws to the side to hold the white plastic bin. We ditched paper towels years ago and use wash rags in the kitchen instead. I like them to be able to dry out and not stay damp, and this trash bin from IKEA works great. Under that I put an insulated tote.

Our  crockpots have migrated from cupboard to cupboard as I've tried to find a good spot, so they got the lowest shelf. The bowls were taking up a lot of space in one of the other cupboards and always had things piled on top of them, so they got the next shelf.

The next shelf ended up being full of miscellaneous items: jars for broth and their lids, LMS's piggy bank and penny jars, and some snacks for LMS. The shelf above got the attachments for the KitchenAid mixer, the popsicle molds, and the juicer. They'd all been crammed in other cupboards and weren't very accessible before. The very top shelf (that you can't see) ended up with a few other things like food containers (for foods we can't currently eat) and a cooler for Mr M's lunches.

I replaced the wire basket and hook on the door and I was done!

Sooo much better. And if we need to move things around, it'll be easy to move the shelves to accommodate the items we want to place on them.

Wood Vegetable Bin

I've been wanting a bin to store our non-refrigerated veggies (onions, squash, potatoes if we ate them, etc) in for awhile now.

I was stashing some in a basket in the coat closet, some on the counter, some in a basket in the pantry, pretty much wherever there was a little bit of space. This tended to cause problems when I needed something and couldn't remember exactly where I'd stashed it.

Anyway, since I emptied the coat closet and dedicated it strictly to coats, boots, and other things that actually belong in a coat closet, I needed to come up with a better storage option for the veggies.

I knew I wanted something open on the front, with a tilted lip to keep things in. I vaguely remembered seeing something along those lines on AnaWhite.com, and after some searching I found it here.

image source

It wasn't quite what I wanted, since I wanted the bins stacked on top of each other instead of next to each other, but I realized I could easily change it to suit my needs.

I knew it was going to go in the pantry, so I measured the width of the pantry and made the bin half as wide, which would leave space for other things in the pantry. I also measured how deep the pantry is and used that to determine the depth of the bin. I wanted it about 34" tall, so I used that when I drew it all out and figured out the measurements of everything.

I used wood I had on hand: a 1"x12" board (10' long, I think?), several 1"x2"s, and a 1"x3" board.

I wanted good ventilation, so I used the 1x2s for part of the sides and the back, as well as to add "feet" to the bottom. I only had the one 1"x12" and I didn't want to buy any more and I wanted to start using some of the huge stash of random wood pieces sitting in the shed, so the 1x2s worked out great.

I actually cut all the pieces about a week before I ended up putting it together, which did result in a few things that I would have done a little differently if I'd been cutting it and putting it together at the same time. I think it still turned out fine, though- definitely useable as-is.

I used Gorilla wood glue and my handy dandy nail gun to put it all together. I think it took maybe half an hour? Since it's going in the pantry, where it won't be seen, I decided to leave it unpainted. So nice to have a project finished so quickly!

I'm gradually getting the kitchen more organized and more functional, and I love it! I hate having to dig through stacks of stuff to find the item I'm looking for, which is invariably on the bottom/at the back.

I'll show you tomorrow where this bin is now- more things getting organized!

Bifold Closet Doors Deconstructed

I mentioned last week in my post about our coat closet that I'd done some work on the closet doors, and here's how they turned out.

Our kitchen coat closet had bifold doors that were driving us nuts. The hinge thingy at the top broke and we replaced it, then it broke again. Yes, we could keep replacing the silly thing, the piece doesn't cost much, but it's super annoying. And I strongly dislike bifold doors anyway. They're almost as bad as those sliding closet doors that never allow you to see the whole closet at one time.

After months of living with the doors leaning against the frame, exposing all the clutter, or precariously leaning against the clutter, mostly hiding it, I finally got to work on it. (I thought I took a picture of the doors leaning, but apparently not)

I took off all the hardware that was on it originally and removed the slider track at the top of the door frame. Then I installed three hinges on each door- not regular door hinges since they're too big for these little doors. I also installed dummy knobs on each door and ball catches at the top to hold the doors shut.

I then removed the dummy knobs and painted both sides of each door white to cover the hated builders beige. After the paint dried I replaced the dummy knobs.

One thing I meant to do and didn't (though I may go back and do): I was going to chisel out spots on the door frame to allow for the hinges. I forgot to and ended up having to sand down the doors so they'd close better. Annoying.

In the end, it looks so much better and is so much more functional. I love it!

Hmmm, I just realized I've been using that word a lot. Apparently functional is very important to me :)

13 Week Genetic Testing

aren't 4D scans so cool?

This morning I had my 13 week genetic testing done. Well, I had the blood work part done a few weeks ago, but the ultrasound and genetic counseling were today.

I didn't have this done when I was pregnant with the Little Miss, so the whole process was new to me.

Basically we discussed genetic issues in my family and Mr M's family. It's not the greatest, so I have a "negative history". That's not news- my siblings and I have always joked about the shallow gene pool we come from and the chances of getting x, y, or z during our lifetimes.

Then I had an ultrasound done where the doc was looking for certain things. There's markers for Downs and Trisomy 13/18 that they look for, but everything looked good. The baby's legs and arms are developing well, as is the abdomen (no intestines outside the stomach), and the brain and umbilical cord all look good. I also got to hear the heartbeat when he checked the blood flow.

The ultrasound machine has 4D capability, which was really cool to see- I never had a 4D scan of LMS, so this was the first time I got to see one in person.

The baby wasn't super cooperative, so it was hard to get a good view of some things: the doc says there's a 75% chance the baby's a girl, but he wouldn't go higher than that since he couldn't get a better view. A friend of mine had this same test done (also at 13 weeks) and he was able to tell her she was having a girl for sure, and she did. The doc's a specialist in this type of thing and has lots of practice, even though most OB's won't tell you till you're at least 18 weeks.

The take-away from this appointment was that my risk factors are very low, though still there, of course, as they are for everyone. I probably could have turned down the whole thing, but it satisfied my curiosity. I like to be able to plan for things, and if the baby is going to have health challenges I need to prepare myself for that, as does Mr M. Even if something had been shown to be wrong, it would only have been so we could plan for the challenges the future would bring. We definitely wouldn't terminate.

My next scan is at the end of May (at 22 weeks), though I have the option of going in at 18 weeks also. I don't have that one scheduled and don't think I'll do it, but we'll see.

As the nausea tapers off, and the baby's not big enough for me to feel the movements yet, and the symptoms of pregnancy become less obvious (to me anyway), it was nice to see that he/she is doing well. Quite wiggly, in fact :) And so reassuring to see the baby growing and developing.

Organized Kitchen Coat Closet

For some reason the coat closet in this house is in the kitchen, not next to the front door. Admittedly, the kitchen door is the one used the most, but I still think it's awkward to have a coat closet in the kitchen.

Especially since we ended up cramming all sorts of stuff into it: coats, hats, boots, bins with misc. items, shelves with linens and cleaners and onions, the vacuum and broom, cans of paint, baskets of papers to be taken care of, bags with various uses, the list goes on and on... It kind of ended up as a catch all for anything that didn't have a spot.

a pic from when we were looking at the house- the previous owners had all sorts of stuff crammed in it, too

Unfortunately I don't have a before picture showing just how much stuff we had crammed in there, but here's some of it sitting on and next to the counter. This doesn't include the coats and all the various bags.

Awhile ago I added a lower shelf and put nails in the boards to hang our coats on. The coat rod was just below the upper shelf, which is just stupid- I could barely touch it if I stood on tiptoe. I removed that since I think coat rods aren't super functional or efficient- coats are always sliding off the hangers, and there's no way LMS could reach it to hang up her own coats.

After emptying the closet I removed the lower top shelf (1x12 pine) and replaced the 1x2 supports with 1x4 supports and added a strip of 1x4s halfway down, then put the shelf back.

I also added 1x2 supports closer to the floor and put a full-depth shelf (1" cabinet grade oak plywood) on top of it. Then I cut a center divider of the same plywood. I had originally planned on putting two dividers in, but that felt too crowded, so I only did one. I used a leftover strip of plywood that had already been cut to 15" wide and I angled the top to be the same width as the shelf above. I screwed the divider into the shelf above and the shelf below, and it sits between the 1x4s, which add further support. It's all very solid.

I hadn't planned on doing anything else, then realized that adding a leg under the bottom shelf would make the front edge a lot more stable. I found a 22" leg at Lowes and cut it down to fit under the shelf. I screwed a scrap of wood to the top of it, then screwed that piece of wood to the underside of the shelf.  I wanted to use one of those metal bases that you screw to the underside and then thread the center screw in the leg into, but since I couldn't find a leg just the right length, that wasn't an option.

Adding that leg makes that lower shelf stronger, which is good since let's be realistic: that shelf WILL be climbed on. And not just by kiddos. If I stand on it I can reach stuff on the top shelf without first digging out a step stool. Yay!

The final step after painting the whole inside of the closet was to add 30 double coat hooks. Probably overkill, but honestly, I'd rather have too many hooks rather than too few. Those nails we were using before highlighted the need for plenty of hooks for coats and jackets and various bags.

The baskets above are for hats, gloves, mittens, etc- one for each of us. Or there will be when I find a fourth basket. I found three baskets at HomeGoods, but they didn't have a fourth. Now I'm scouring the local stores for a matching one since I really like these baskets.

The bags on the top shelf hold smaller bags that get used for various activities- soccer, skiing, hiking, etc.

And under that lower shelf? A perfect spot for all our boots. We were using a boot tray by the back door, but it was a squeeze to get one pair of boots for each of us on it. When you factor in rain boots, snow boots and hiking boots, there was definitely not enough space.

I will be doing another post on the doors of this closet- I'm quite pleased with how they turned out too.

I can't say enough about how much I love the coat closet now. I love getting the house organized and having a place for everything. It makes it so much easier to find things when everything has an actual home and isn't crammed somewhere in a closet. I'm working on getting all the cupboards and closets in the house organized and as I do the house feels so much more peaceful. I hate clutter and disorganization :)

February Goals Re-Cap

signs of spring!

I updated my goals in January, and even though it's almost the end of March now, I'll post how I did in February, as best as I can remember.

A few goals under Health:
1. Stick to GAPS
This was a bust since the nausea, loss of appetite and super sensitive sense of smell made it impossible to do any cooking myself. I hope to get back on track after I hit the second trimester.
2. Train for and run at least 6 races by the end of 2013 (at least one half marathon, preferably two)
I ran the mud run in February so I've run 3 races now- one 5k, one 4 miler, and one half marathon. Since I made the goal before I found out I was pregnant I didn't take into account childbirth and such. I had hoped for a fall half, but that won't be happening. After running the numbers I realized I won't even be ready for the Disney Half in January- I'll only be 3 months postpartum and that's just asking for injury since I shouldn't start training till 6 weeks after giving birth- which would leave less than two months to train. That said, I do still plan on doing more shorter races this year.
3. Consistently cross train and strength train
I haven't added cycling and strength training, though I'm still finishing projects around the house, which is a kind of strength training :)

A few goals under House:
1. Clean up drips and do the final touches in each room
I finally finished the basement stairway and am working on finishing the kitchen. Once I finish that, then I can move on to the touch ups.
2. Build and install shelves in all closets
I've been working on the basement and kitchen, and haven't started this yet.
3. Build homeschool cabinet
Finished the design, but haven't had time/energy to start yet.
4. Build kitchen table
Again, haven't had the time/energy yet.

A few goals under Homeschool:
1. Continue to be consistent at keeping to the schedule
We're doing pretty good at sticking to the schedule, though we have had to be a bit flexible with the fatigue I've been experiencing and we have not managed to get an earlier start in the morning.
2. Be more present
Still working on this one, but I suspect this is one of those on-going ones that never quite end.

A few goals under Habits:
1. Practice the piano and violin consistently
Yeah, these haven't happened yet- no time or energy.
2. Index several batches every week for FamilySearch
Nor this one.
3. Have more meaningful daily scripture study (start journaling as I read)
I've tried several journaling options and I'm not convinced that any of them are working for me. I had hoped that journaling would help me get more out of what I read, but at this point I'm not sure it will. I have a few other things I'm going to try in the meantime, and I'll revisit journaling later.

How did you do with your goals this month?

More Thoughts on Maternity Clothes/Trends

playing in the snow a couple weeks ago- LMS lost half her face when I did a self portrait 

As I mentioned last week, we finished another round of ski classes for LMS and I had the chance to ski while she was in class.  My ski bibs, which I've had for a couple years, still fit, so I didn't have to buy bigger ones just for this season. I did notice that my thermal top, which is on the snug side, caused some problems.

When I'm pregnant, my body does not like being squished, even a little. I found this out early on when I was pregnant with LMS. Mr M and I went to an Army Ball, which is fancy dress. Since I dressed up, I wore some shape wear under my dress, but had to take it off before the evening was over because I was just too uncomfortable. And it wasn't that tight....

My thermal top was just snug enough for my body to complain about the tightness. I've worn this top before, when I was heavier, without problems. FYI, I haven't gained any weight yet- I'm not eating enough for that to happen yet.

I read recently that Spanx has a line of maternity shape wear. How do people wear those things while pregnant?

Am I the only weirdo out there who physically can't wear tight clothes while pregnant?

Food intolerance Manifestations

for your enjoyment: 

a picture I found of me leaping (unsuccessfully, I might add) over a stream during the mud run. isn't my outfit super attractive?

Over the last few years, I've learned to pay attention to my body and can usually identify when I'm reacting to something I ate. I've also learned to watch the Little Miss for her reactions.

That said, I still sometimes miss things.

My reactions have evolved from stomach pain and throat swelling. Now I get eczema under my wedding ring (weird, I know) and in my scalp. It took me awhile to figure out that the rash under my rings wasn't poison ivy like I originally thought, but directly related to what I eat. It also took me awhile to make the connection between the itchy "dandruff" and what I eat. Thankfully my hair hides most of the damage, but I do go around looking like I have a bad case of dandruff if I haven't been eating right.

With LMS, it's a bit trickier. Some things are fairly obvious, like intestinal issues, but others are less cut and dried. Changes in her behavior sometimes don't click right away with me, even though I know (and have known for some time) that her behavior is greatly influenced by what she eats.

Recently I've finally made another connection that has eluded me for months.

This past fall LMS and I went on a road trip with my sister for a few days and LMS started coughing. I chalked it up to the dry air in the car (I always get dehydrated when road tripping) and when we got home I turned her humidifier on each night and the cough went away.

The cough re-surfaced around Christmas, which coincided with another road trip, and some actual winter weather. LMS got sick on New Years, and even though she got better, the cough hung around. Last week she got a bit sick again and the cough evolved from a dry, unproductive cough (so annoying to listen to) to a pleghmy cough. I'd been thinking about taking her to the doctor, but with the phlegm and cold, the doctor would just say to keep an eye on things.

I've been praying about how to help her, and I finally made the connection between the cough she had in September and her current cough. And I realized that it wasn't caused by the dry air- it was caused by eating things that don't agree with her. When we road trip, we are a lot more lenient about what we eat since we invariably have to eat at restaurants at least part of the time. We hadn't started GAPS yet when we went on the road trip with my sister, but we were pretty close. When we returned home, we went back to eating more carefully and her cough cleared up because she wasn't eating the offending foods any more, not because the humidifier made a difference.

At Christmas we cheated on GAPS while traveling to my sister's, and we've been cheating in one way or another (for one reason or another) ever since. LMS's cough hasn't been able to clear up because of the continued cheating.

Yeah, it's only taken me since September to realize that coughing is one of LMS's food intolerance manifestations. I'm not always the fastest on the uptake, that's for sure.

My super-sensitive sense of smell seems to be disappearing (thankfully!). I only have a couple weeks left before I hit the second trimester and I'm really hoping the nausea and lack of appetite clear up then so I can start cooking food again, which will enable us to get back on the GAPS wagon.  I can't wait for LMS's cough to go away....

Sunday Funny

LMS hugging the doggy at Old Navy. Remember the blue dog here? She likes her doggies!

Me:  I've got a doctor appointment tomorrow.

LMS (very excited): Is there prizes?!


We went to the dentist recently and she got lots of prizes there. Unfortunately, the gynecologist does not give out prizes. Unless you're one of the lucky ones who are pregnant, then you get your prize in 9 months :)

CSA

pretty spring flowers we bought yesterday

I've wanted to join a CSA for 3 or 4 years now, but could never quite justify the cost in my mind.

Then I realized I was going to the grocery store and only buying produce and spending X amount of dollars to do it. I vaguely recalled that the CSA's I'd investigated were not that expensive.

I did some research, and found a local CSA that has a winter option- reduced offerings, but it does include random items like local cider, local raw honey, local pastured beef, etc to make sure you're getting your money's worth. And it's a lot less than what I was spending at the grocery store.

I still need to buy some produce items at the grocery store (our current diet is restricted enough that we have to eat some veggies out of season, though I'd like to be able to eat with the seasons), but it's a lot less than before. I'm still buying our weekly pastured chicken at Whole Foods, but I may switch to getting it from the CSA- it's a little more expensive (not much), but it would mostly eliminate the need to go to Whole Foods every week. It's not nicknamed Whole Paycheck without reason.... I'm also trying to reduce the number of stores I'll have to go to each week once the baby comes- less running around with a newborn is always a good thing.

I really like how flexible our CSA is:

• monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly options
• small, medium, and large boxes of produce
• milk, eggs, fish, beef, pork, chicken, bread options (varying delivery options available)
• al a carte- you can order more of something if you want, and just pay for that
• very allergy friendly- easy substitutions
• you can quit any time it stops working for you- you pay weekly, as opposed to for the season
• Pickup and delivery options- less options in the winter, but more the rest of the year

I should mention that our CSA is not an actual farm that sells just what it produces: it finds local sources  for everything and builds the boxes from there. They tell us where everything comes from and whether it's organic, low-spray, etc.

So we get a large box of produce once a week, with a portion of pork (local, pastured pork- can't find that at Whole Foods) once a month. They send out an email each week stating what's in the boxes that week and I just respond and ask them to substitute the items we can't eat. They have the info in their computer, but responding each week allows me to state a preference for what we'd like instead- usually apples one week, squash another week, etc. Right now I drive downtown to pick up our box each week, but next month I'll be able to pick it up at a location that's a lot closer and more convenient- they'll be starting their regular spring/summer routine.

I hear everyone talking about Bountiful Baskets, but they're not available in our area :(
Do you get food from a CSA?

Flower Garden

I actually made this some time ago {ok, a long time ago}, and it's been sitting on the Little Miss' nightstand for at least a year. I just couldn't decide where to hang it. Now it's on the wall, and I'm not sure it'll stay in that spot. Hmmm.

Anyway, I saw the original idea here, and I even intended to do butterflies since there are some butterflies in LMS' room. But since I already made the butterfly mobile (scroll to the bottom of the page) I didn't want too many butterflies.

I'd used some cute flowers in her room in our last house, so I decided to make a flower garden instead of a butterfly garden.

I followed her tutorial (super easy!) for the wood piece and added flowers that matched LMS' room that I found at Hobby Lobby and Michaels. Since they were on wired stems, it was easy to twirl them into fun shapes.

When I made it, I used screws and wire and to make a picture hanger. In the end, though, I decided to use a 3M picture hanger (the velcro kind). I'm a bit reluctant to put holes in the walls right now, especially since we don't know yet if we'll be moving things around to make room for a crib. Using the 3M picture hangers makes it easy to move things around if I need to.

Can I say that taking good pictures of a lavender wall is not very easy?

Ski Class

first morning of class

Today was the last day of LMS' ski class. She was just young enough to take the same class she took last year (it's for 3-6 year olds, and she doesn't turn 7 for 2 more months). {read about last year's class here and here}

last morning of class

I debated about signing her up since I needed to do that right about when I found out I was pregnant. I wasn't sure I'd have the energy. I definitely took it easier this year, and we didn't do any skiing together after her class- I was more concerned about being able to stay awake on the trip home.

out on the slopes with her class

I was taking these pics from the other side of the slope- we're not supposed to interfere with the class :)

wheeee!

I'm glad we did the class one more time. If I'd been further along, I might have been hesitant to get out and ski, but as it was, I didn't have any problems. The snow was a lot better this year- the resort put in new snow machines and the weather cooperated a lot more. We got a good snow storm just last week, and today the skiing was still pretty good and the runs were all open. Last year this time the snow was crappy, there were lots of bare patches, and several runs were closed completely.

an arial shot as I rode the lift over LMS and her class- she's the middle one in the yellow bib in the group of three

I'm not sure if we'll try for lessons next year or not. We wouldn't be able to do the same class since she'll be too old, but there are other options. The challenge would be bringing along a 4 month old. A couple weeks ago I saw a lady skiing with her baby strapped to her chest, but her baby was probably 10  months old at least. I don't feel I'm a strong enough skier to attempt that, especially if I had LMS in tow. Maybe if the baby was a bit older, but I think 4 months is too young. So we'd end up in the coffee house seating area, which is drafty and usually chilly, and not the best alternative. We'll see- there's lots of time before we need to make that decision.

I managed to ride the lift in the chair behind LMS's class and took this pic just as my turn came up

Did you do any skiing this year?

Maternity Clothes Rant, part 2

Part one of my maternity clothes rant can be found here.

Another thing that's been bugging me: why are all pregnant women expected to flaunt their cleavage? 95% of the maternity dresses, shirts, and swimsuits I've looked at have ridiculously deep cleavage. I have an incredibly short torso, and I've tried on some tops and dresses that almost show my belly button. How in the world is that attractive?  And what if we don't want to show the world our assets?

Layering is always an option (I do it half the time anyway), but extra layers are not something you want during a hot, humid summer when you're in your third trimester.

This actually goes along with my rant on why you can only find sleeveless dressy dresses for little girls in the winter. Designers must really want our little girls to freeze to death. What's so wrong with sleeves???

For that matter, what's so wrong with being modest?

Sunday Funny

a tiny snowman LMS built on the front porch- I forgot to take a picture till the next day, so it's looking pretty sad :)

I've realized lately how much LMS doesn't know about common junk food. Not that I mind- it's healthier not to eat the typical corn dog/chicken nugget/mac & cheese diet of small children. It does make for some funny conversations, though.

Since the smell of food makes me want to hurl, I've been buying convenience foods like gluten free corn dogs, fish sticks and tater tots that require little preparation on my part.

She looked at the corn dogs and asked what they were.

She's never had a gluten free corn dog, and it's been more than three years since she had a non-gluten free one.

She didn't know what the fish sticks were either (she's never had one- I prefer real fish that I bread myself, not that we can do the breading anymore). These were a complete failure- the smell was way too strong for me to deal with.

I'm not sure how long it's been since she had a tater tot, but it's obviously been awhile. She asked me if we eat the potato tops cold.

Potato tops = tater tots

I explained that they taste better if we cook them first  :)

Hanging shelf for play kitchen

Not long after I built the play kitchen for LMS for Christmas (last year), she requested a shelf that would hang above the play kitchen that she could put her dishes on. I promised her I'd make one, but then never got around to it.

This summer when I was building a couple other projects I built LMS her shelf. It was a pretty simple build and took just a few minutes to put together. I used pieces of leftover beadboard for the backing and then added trim to make it look nicer- that took longer than the build itself did.

I've realized that building stuff usually goes pretty quickly, it's the finish work- the trim, the putty/caulk, the sanding, the painting- that takes time.

That said, I still finished the shelf last fall sometime, but never got around to actually hanging it on the wall till a couple weeks ago. Yes, I am a huge slacker/procrastinator sometimes.

I think it turned out great and LMS loves it. Now she doesn't have to store her dishes in the oven- which is just not the thing to do, in her mind :)

What part of your projects takes the longest?

Finally!

Remember when I complained about all the snowstorm false alarms?

We actually got hit by a good snowstorm!

We had warning several days in advance, but I didn't take them too seriously- the other promised storms never materialized.

Tuesday night it started raining, and within an hour or two it had changed to snow and was building up. The snow was sticking to the trees, making them look ghostly in the darkness.

I woke up about 4:15 to absolute silence. It took me a minute to realize why it was so quiet- the power was out and there was no background hum from the heat pump.

After using the bathroom (a middle of the night ritual now), I laid down and tried to go back to sleep. Before I could though, I saw bright flashes outside. I ran to the window to see what was going on and saw another flash- so bright that after it was over, everything was so much darker, which seemed odd. I watched another flash from a different window, but the light was dispersed by the snow and it was impossible to figure out which direction the flashes were originating from.

I went back to sleep, then woke up an hour or two later. The power was still out, but there were more flashes disturbing the quiet darkness. These were even more spectacular- one in particular started out bright orange then changed to a neon green before disappearing.

There's power lines a couple lots over, and I could hear them surging with each flash. My guess is that the flashes were from workers working on the transformers. Though maybe it was from power lines going down? I've never actually seen power lines pulled down, so I don't know if they give off bright flashes when they have branches fall on them.

The heavy snow didn't do too much damage on our property- a few small branches down and this:

It used to look like this:

I don't think it's going to recover. After shoveling the snow off it popped back up, but now it leans. The fabric had gotten a few tears recently so I was already planning on building a more permanent version, and now it has even more holes. This has been housing our generator and recycling bins, so we can't just chuck it. Good thing our power came back on around 7:30, since it would have been a bit difficult to get to the generator. Guess I'll be breaking out the 2x4's sooner than I thought....

But back to the snow- it snowed all night Tuesday and all morning Wednesday. It started raining a bit in the afternoon, but that didn't last too long, so the snow didn't all melt away like I expected it to.

It's started to melt a little this morning, but so far it's managed to stick around longer than I thought it would.

LMS was happy that we finally got snow wet enough to build a snowman and have a snowball fight.

We did some sledding, but it was less successful. Apparently dry snow is better for sledding and wet snow is better for snowmen.

Yay for snow!