Day 14: Flowers

There are no flowers blooming here, yet (that I'm aware of although I did see some trying to poke their way out of the ground). This is from Mom and Dad's garden last summer.

Day 10: Something I Made

I've been collecting magazine pages for the last several months with the intention of making paper beads. Have you ever made them? They are really easy, I think I was about 10 the first time I made them. The trick is to use really thick paper so I've been holding onto magazine covers with pretty colors.

I found a size that I liked, somewhere around a half-inch, and used my paper cutter to cut triangles. Then, I used my fingers (I wrecked my paintbrush last time I used mod-podge because I didn't clean it very well...) to spread mod-podge on the side of the triangle that I wanted on the inside and starting on the wide side, used the wooden skewer to roll it up nice and tight. I finished them off with a bit more mod-podge to seal it all together.

I have yet to make anything with them, I really just wanted to get the pages off my desk.

I know there are organizations out there where impoverished women make and sell jewelry made from recycled paper beads. Some of them use posters to make big chunky beads, they look awesome. A friend of mine has a colorful necklace that was made by one of these organizations and it looks really cool with the big beads. She said she didn't even realize they were paper beads until someone else pointed it out.

Day 9: Faceless Self-Portrait

Enjoying a cup of Nourishing Tea (great for pregnancy, includes raspberry leaf, nettle, and alfalfa) after finishing up my kitchen duties which were greatly shortened thanks to Jeff helping me dry the dishes.

Day 7: Something New

I'm kind of stretching to find something new today. A baby would have been fun but hey, I can't control that. Here's something sort of new:

Adrian has suddenly started peeing in the potty! I couldn't be happier. Who knows what will happen once we have a "new baby in the house," but for now it's pretty awesome. He's gone a couple times a day for the past few days.

We're supposed to be getting a huge box of diapers from Amazon by Monday and we're running pretty low otherwise. I'm crossing my fingers that I won't have to buy more diapers before then so I've really been pushing the potty training. He's probably getting sick of me asking, "do you have to go potty?" And, "If you have to go potty tell Mommy and we can run to the bathroom!" I'm tempted to whip up a rough pair of underwear just so I don't have to buy diapers...

In other news, Adrian has asked me a couple times today to take out his memory cards or build a track with his train set, but every time he asks, I tell him he needs to clean up his books and puzzles that are scattered all over the floor. And every time, he gets distracted with his books and starts reading them instead. The attention span of a 2-year-old, huh? I can't even get upset about it because it's so darn cute listening to him reading. He picked up Sleeping Beauty a few minutes ago and before opening it up said, "this book is crazy." I'm still laughing.

Day 6: A Childhood Memory

I could probably devote an entire year to childhood memories. Choosing one is way too hard. Since I don't have many pictures of my childhood, I'll choose one that I do have. (Not because there aren't any, but because they are all at Mom and Dad's. And honestly, so many of my memories don't have pictures at all because they happened way out in the woods with no camera in sight.)

This is a page from my senior scrapbook.

Dad always called me and my little brother, Brett, Lil and Will. I remember I just hated it because I was the older one. It never made sense that he called me Lil. Honestly, I don't know if Lil was short for little or for something entirely different, but in my mind it was always short for little and boy did that drive me nuts.

Nowadays, I really am the little one. He passed me up a long time ago. I remember around middle school or high school, as we were brushing our teeth in the morning, Brett would comment that the mirror was so low he couldn't even see his whole head. I, on the other hand, could see my entire head and plenty of room above it.

Yup, there are a whole lot of memories of Bubs/Brettie/Will stored up in my brain. I know there's a video out there somewhere of me tattling that he "pished" me although I can't say that I actually remember that one on my own.

I love my boys

All 3 of them, I'm just waiting to meet the third.

It's amazing how much you can love a person. Like today. Today has been a rough day. Adrian and I are both really tired but for some reason, only one of us realizes it. I managed to sneak in a nap this morning and as far as I know, Adrian didn't get into any trouble while I was out. He told me he played with his cars while I was sleeping. Now it's his turn. He started out in my bed (we're trying different tactics to get him to nap since he still needs it so badly) but when he started digging around, I sent him to his room. He was so upset and kept trying to get back in my room. I may have had a little meltdown at that point. He's been testing his limits lately and doing everything but listening to Mom and Dad. Add a very tired mama to the mix and *sigh* it's just been a rough day. Despite everything, I still want to snuggle up with him and smother him with kisses. If only that would make him sleep.

And Jeff, well, he's kind of amazing. Sometimes I look at him and think, wow, I'm so lucky to have you. Last night, he took Adrian to yet another hockey game. Adrian loves it and it gives me a little time to myself. He'll gladly run to the store for me and lately, he's been offering more than ever. Getting ready for when the baby arrives I suppose. I can't wait to see him be a dad to another little boy! I swear, the best sound in the world is the laughter coming from wherever he is playing with Adrian. It makes my heart melt every time.

Day 2

Yvonne invited me to join her for a 30 day photo challenge. Since there are no rules and since there will be an addition to our family this month, I may be following it rather loosely. Either way, I couldn't say no! Day 1 was a self portrait so you can consider the last post day 1 even though it was technically a day early. Today's challenge is "what I wore."

I had to crop out my feet when I cropped out the cardboard box sitting in the corner...we're running out of room in this apartment. You didn't miss out, they were bare. We don't always wear socks around here and I didn't grab the boots that I would wear if I was to actually venture out today.
I've seen a lot of outfit posts with prices attached which is always really interesting to me, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me what each individual item cost. I can guess that the total outfit was under $10. I'm thrifty like that.

Dolmen-sleeved sweater: Elle, thrifted during our sister's trip
Short-sleeved maternity tee: Motherhood, thrifted
Maternity jeans: A Pea in the Pod, borrowed from my sister, Amanda
White beaded necklace: vintage, belonged to Jeff's Grandma Sally
Gold necklace: vintage, belonged to Jeff's Grandma Sally

I really love this gold necklace. When Jeff's family emptied out his Grandpa's house, the kids were all able to go through and take whatever they wanted (this was a couple years ago when it was realized that Grandpa would never be moving back from the adult care home). Jeff and I didn't get to look through everything until we were in town a few weeks later after it was pretty well picked over, but I still found a few treasures, mostly jewelry. I specifically remember grabbing this necklace saying something down the lines of, "I don't know if I really love this, but it's a simple necklace that goes with everything." Then I put it on. I wear it All. The. Time. Literally, it never comes off. I'm glad I decided to take it.