I just found the most GORGEOUS SOCK PATTERN EVAR! Oh… OH! Sooo preeeeeetty! I keep clicking that link just to oogle it. I’m in lust! The pattern calls for 3-5 skeins of a $7.75/skein yarn, so it’d be between $23-38 to make with their yarn, but I’m sure I could do it cheaper. WANT!
One of the blogs I read is a wife/mother who tends to complain about her husband… a lot. Recently she had a post asking commenters to bitch about their own husbands. As I read through the first few it struck me. Ken is completely and totally NOT like that! He *doesn’t* wash just his own laundry, he *does* do the dishes, he *does* share child-care equally – hell, on weekends he does most of it so that I can have a break and get other things done! He doesn’t bitch and complain about me bitching and complaining. He doesn’t moan about not getting enough sleep with a new baby (unless we’re both moaning together about it). He doesn’t get upset when I’m not in the mood for sex. He doesn’t do any of that and a whole lot more. He does everything he can to make life easier for me and better for us all and he does it willingly and without complaint.
No, I don’t know how I ended up so lucky either.
Well *that* was anti-climatic! We got a call yesterday from the mortgage dude that, apparently, we are *not* approved for the HELOC. Understandable, considering we’re shouldering 2 mortgages right now on top of the usual debt, but irritating nonetheless. The car debt wasn’t reported properly, he said.
So. Slight change of plans for us. We’ll have to cut back and fund any changes ourselves.
So grr, but ahh well. It’ll be easier having less to do, so it’s not all bad. We should be able to swing the stuff that *really* needs to be done, so we should do alright. At the very least, it was nice knowing the mortgage people think our house is worth so much – hopefully our buyers do too!
On Sat we were approved for the HELOC on the house with more than we’ll need to fix this place up. Sunday we were talking about what we need to do, since we’re in “go mode” to get started, and we decided to make an information gathering trip to Lowes. It went well, and took less time than it felt it took (you can only travel so quickly through the store with two kids). We found appliances we like and that’ll help the kitchen look much better (and at a great price), we looked at and decided on flooring for the kitchen/dining area (that we’ll do ourselves), and we talked about other things we need to get.
Home Improvement List:
Flooring – we’ll do the kitchen/dining, carpet people will do the living room and we need a quote for that
Kitchen – counter, PT holder, appliances, backsplash
Garage finishing
Lighting replacements
finish Trim
Landscaping
Deck stain
clean Siding
remove/storage boxes/excess
touch-up Paint
finish Bathroom
Septic pumped
remove Satellite dish
Much of it we’ll do, but some like the counters and carpets and septic is stuff we’ll have to pay to have done. We’re also considering hiring a local handy man to help with stuff since time is of the essence. It’s a lot to do, but we’re hoping to just tackle one job at a time. If we have to we can handle covering both mortgages for a *short* amount of time, though we’re hoping to avoid that. Ken’s current project means he can’t take any time off work, though, until after he goes to HK, and that does cut into the time we have to work on stuff.
This is a new sound he’s been making. It’s a happy sound, kinda like a laugh, but… uh… not (7.5mb)
I lay on the floor today, making faces at Victor to get him to smile, watching Ethan play with his legos and climb over me and back a hundred times (“Want slide, Mommy?”), and thought about how damned much my Dad would have loved my boys. Dad was one of those people that just adores children. Babies are carried around in the crook of his arm like a natural appendage, children draw to him and his big belly like bees to honey. Dad always had a corny joke, a knee to bounce on, and a love of getting down to play on the floor (despite his considerable size). He loved children. He especially loved his own grandkids. Remembering how he was with children, and especially his grandkids, makes it hurt so much knowing he can’t have that with mine. I *know* my father. He would have been down here visiting every 3-6 months; more often if he could, despite the 12hr drive. He would have lived and breathed my boys. He was a natural grandfather. He would have loved talking with Ethan right now on the phone; listening for as long as Ethan was willing to talk about cars and trucks and The Incredibles. He would have spent ages making silly faces at Victor; their images so similar. He would have added their pictures to his flip-out wallet photos and showed them off to everyone who’d look. He’d be so proud of the struggle Ethan went through, and how normal he is now and how smart. He’d have grinned with pride when people told him Victor looks just like him.
I knew my father. I’m so painfully proud of the Grandfather he never got to be for us.
One thing Ken and I share in common is the belief that somethings are worth the extra cost/effort to get the best experience. Coffee is one of our indulgences (especially lately with the lack of sleep and higher stress we’re under from a bunch of things). In that vein, we bought our Timmy’s coffee online, in bulk. The only decent price we could find was an auction for 8 big cans, so we bought them. Pricey, yes, but worth it (we’re gonna be in coffee for a long while, that’s for sure!). We also decided to try out Torani Syrups. Those’re the colourful bottles of flavoured syrups you see on the back wall of coffee shops and bars. We bought 6 flavours (they aren’t expensive): Chocolate Mint, Vanilla Bean, Cinnamon, Maple, English Toffee and Butter Rum. We also bought the pumps to go with them (very necessary). Over the past two days we’ve had chocolate mint coffee and “Toffee Delight Lattes” (butter rum + toffee + milk and some coffee). We’d have tried other flavours but originally only bought 3 pumps which’re on the chocolate mint, toffee and butter rum flavours (I’ve bought more this morning, though). I’m quite pleased with our new indulgence. They’re insanely easy to use – just a couple pumps into a cup of coffee or warmed milk and coffee and a stir and you’re enjoying something yummy and comforting. The syrups take all the typical bitter out of coffee, too, which I don’t quite understand (not that Timmy’s has much, but it’s *gone*). Tomorrow we’re going to try a recipe for English Toffee Waffles, and once the extra pumps arrive I’m going to try making Cinnamon Rice (not a sweet rice, surprisingly – the cinnamon, though sweetened, has a really strong “cinnamon heart” type of flavour/bite).
If you get the chance to try out these syrups, I highly recommend them. We bought them for $4.25/bottle (more expensive some places, which is why I’m giving you a base price) and they’re worth every penny!
Old Navy has a $1000 contest for kids clothes on. Enter once a day. Figured I’d share the love/luck. (and, y’know, if you win you’re welcome to buy my boys some summer clothes if you want 
)
I forgot to mention that last night Ken weighed Victor while changing him into his jammies. 17lbs. No wonder I’m toning up! He’s 25.5″ long, which is about par for his age right now (3.5mo). The 17lbs is a bit higher, but he’s likely just packed on some weight in anticipation of another growth spurt in length to stretch it over.
Good thing we got that larger car seat for him. His old one only goes up to 16lbs!
I.love.yarn. In case there was any doubt. I’ve been denying to myself that I have a stash, but recently realized that I do… it’s just all over the place and not full of the lovely yarns I wish it were. There’s a lot of leftovers and cheaper yarns I’ve bought but never used. What I desire, though, is a stash I can be proud of. One I can walk up to (or dig through, in my case) and lovingly run my fingers over the yarn, entranced by the variety and richness of colour and texture, and pick a yarn for a project in my head that I can be proud of. Right now I pick based on colour, and the yarn doesn’t often fit the need I have. This results in the wrong colourways or form for a project. I disappoint myself.
I’ve bought things on ebay before, but last night marked the first time I’d bid on yarn on ebay. Granted it may not look like much, but it’s a high quality yarn in a BIG skein. That much yarn would make a large shawl (lace) or 4 pair of socks or countless other things. That much yarn would cost, otherwise, $17.50 for 4oz (the skein I bid on is therefore worth about $65). It’s mill ends, which means there could be bad colour spots (though not likely) or thread thickness variations but it’s a chance I’m willing to take. All that being said, however, I highly doubt I’ll win the auction. There’s 4 days left, afterall.
I’ve been wanting to try out some of the higher end sock yarns, and this is my chance to do so. I hope I win!
It was nice having a surprise long weekend. We got somewhere between 1-2′ and boy was it a chore to shovel! I’d meant to shovel off the deck, and still plan on it in the next few days. It’s going to warm up, and I’d like it cleaned off and dry (makes me feel less snowed in and more spring-y). I expect to be a bit sore this afternoon from the shovelling, so it may have to wait a day. We’re both out of shape. Speaking of which, mine continues to improve. I’m pretty steady on weight now, which is a few pounds heavier than when we started the Victor Project, but my size/shape are almost back to what they were. Mostly I’ve got some muscle tone issues with my stomach, but they’re improving without any conscious work on my part (yay for chasing around two little’uns!). I still look forward to when I can start working out again, sometime this summer. Beyond shovelling we didn’t get a heck of a lot done this weekend, but I refuse to regret that. I need to vacuum, and may try to get that done this morning. Ethan is, yet again, afraid of the vacuum, so we’ll see.
We’ve been trying to convert Ethan to sleeping out of his crib, which is meeting with frustrating results. We put him in his crib still during his nap, but the bed at night. Problem is that he doesn’t stay in bed, and ends up sleeping on the floor most nights (wherein he’s cold and/or wakes up a lot more). Many times we find him with his waist-up on the bed and his waist-down on the floor – comfortable, sure, but not what we’re hoping for. Anybody have any tips? It’s not a *huge* deal… if he wants to sleep on the floor he’s not disallowed, but I think he’d be more comfortable on the bed. We also need to get him to nap on the bed during naptime, since we need the crib for the Incredibly Growing Baby.
Victor’s sleeping habits continue to improve (thank Gods!). At night I put him to sleep, typically between 9-9:30, he’ll sleep til 1-2am, eat, sleep til 3-5am, eat, sleep til 6-7am (when we’re lucky and things go well). Ken and I are sleeping in the same bed and are typically laying there reading til 10pm each night. We’re sleeping SO VERY MUCH! It’s lovely. Daily sleeping habits are still erratic, but I’m going to try writing down when he’s sleeping (since I never remember) to see where the pattern lies. It’s there, I just need to have specific times of day.
All that being said, I give you some Moments of Cute with Ethan in the snow.
Last night, after Ken got home I said to him “It feels like Friday, and I *want* it to be Friday, so can we just make today Friday?” He replied that “it just might be”. I hadn’t been aware, until then, of the impending doom that is a March snow storm. We were still uncertain this morning since there was no snow in sight, but with the doom and gloom forecasts and the fact that the snow was coming from the south (therefore if he were at work – north of us – by the time it got bad there it’d be horrid here and he may not make it home), he decided to stay home and I decided I’d best get my weekend grocery shopping done pronto. Good thing, too, since the drive home from the store was done a bit more slowly and carefully than I’d normally drive our roads. As it stands, we’re due 5-8″ today with an additional 10-15″ overnight. Weeeeeeee!
The stupid thing was hearing the radio dj comment about March going out with a bang. Not only did he bugger the saying, it’s the middle of the blasted month!
Lately, once I get Victor to sleep and in his basinette, he sleeps for me until I wake him around midnight for the last feed of my shift and then sleeps until 2-4 for Ken. Last night we agreed to try me putting him down and we’d both sleep… in our own bed… together. If Victor woke before 1am (the typical end of my shift) I’d get him, otherwise Ken would take over. He woke up at almost exactly 1am, so I fed him and had him back down by 1:45 and he slept until 4am or so at which time Ken got up. We got so much sleep (so now I’m a bit tired today, but we have coffee again so all is well) and TOGETHER! Amazing!
We’re going to try this out for the next week or so, and if he’s still maintaining this schedule we’ll start transitioning him into the crib in his room. Ethan’s been sleeping in the big bed, off and on, for the past week without much problems (not every night – sometimes he asks to sleep in his crib), so I’m hoping to switch him to bed sleeping during his naptime, and move the crib out of his room. We need to do a lot of cleaning to get storage stuff out of Victor’s room, but that should be this weekend.
All the same… yay for sleeping alongside my husband!!
It’s kinda amazing how much life gets easier once you get near the 3mo mark. He’s happier, the colic is gone, he sleeps better and in a much more organized routine… Life is starting to be grande again.
Ken was a bit worried that I wouldn’t like what he’d gotten me; that much he confessed a week ago. He shouldn’t have worried, though, since it’s stunning and I just love it! He bought me pearls! (those, but in traditional white for White Day)
I’m not a huge jewelery person, but I’ve always wanted a set of pearls. My mother’s favourite and best piece of jewelery was a lovely pearl necklace and I have a *lot* of memories of her wearing it when she was dressed up to go somewhere. She was cremated in it, in her best dress. Ken’s never bought me jewelery before, either. We bought our wedding bands, together, online. I don’t wear a diamond and he never “officially” proposed – we just knew we were going to be married and there was no need to ask.
So here I sit, in my earings and necklace and bracelet. I changed into an evening gown since my yoga pants and tank top just weren’t cutting it. I shocked Ethan, being dressed up, and scared Victor with my hair down (instead of pulled back), but Ken thinks I look beautiful and I feel beautiful. I love him so much!
Lately, from the over-tiredness or the stress we’ve been under from kids and houses and work and money, Ken and I have been splurging on ourselves a bit. To which end, we ordered 8 big cans of Timmy’s coffee off ebay (to be picked up this morning) and I’ve just ordered 6 bottles of Torani syrup (the stuff you see in coffee houses) to try out. Cinnamon, chocolate mind, english toffee, butter rum, maple syrup and vanilla bean. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
We’ve also recently bought a bunch of books (though books I see as an investment rather than a splurge) and I’ll be buying more in the coming months as they’re released to print.
We love coffee, we love books, so it’s all good. 
