Blog a la Cart

Ablutophobia. Not.

She’s about to inform James that, “I want to washa face.”

We know, kid, you’re far from an ablutophob. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Barn Door Shelf

Since I’m expecting the Sesame Seed any day now, we’ve been in a tizzy organizing and preparing the house for a family of four. Given that the girls are going to be sharing a bedroom, we decided we needed some extra shelving space to better organize all of the bibs, and burp clothes, and swaddling blankets that have been pulled out of storage for life with an infant. We’re on a rather tight budget, so we decided to repurpose material we had readily available. Our friends graciously offered us their old barn door, and James constructed the entire shelf from that wood.

The hope is that when we move to a bigger home, this lovely little piece won’t be hidden away in a closet but can be out for the world to see. For now, though, it’s serving its purpose quite delightfully!

Time: 1 day

Cost: $20 for paint/finish

Basic Steps:
Since we wanted to keep the feel of the doors, and highlight the re-use of the wood, we didn’t take any of this tongue and groove paneling apart. Instead we treated each door like one big piece of wood. Careful not to cut through any of the screws that hold it together,  we sawed a straight line horizontally about 1/3rd from the bottom of the door. When we did this on the other door, it gave us our two sides. We then took the bigger 2/3rd pieces and cut them in half vertically. This gave us the four identical pieces we needed – 3 for the shelves, and one for the back. With a little sanding and planing we were able to get these 4 pieces exactly the same size which made assembly easy. We choose what we thought was the most interesting piece to be the back of the shelf. Then we sanded everything down, and fit our 6 pieces together. Since our little hardware store didn’t have a whitewash stain, we got a latex eggshell and diluted it, almost one-to-one, with water and put a single coat on to help highlight the grain of the wood and give it a softer feel. With such a thin layer of diluted paint, it was easy to sand down and see as much of the grain as we wanted. With a clear poly semi-gloss on top, we gave it a little bit more protection, and just a hint of sheen. We know that this will get much use throughout our lives in any number of homes and living situations!

Friday Night Entertainment

Sunny lay in her bed tonight reciting this poem over and over again. Go on, give ‘er a listen.

Her sweet little voice kills me. KILLS. ME.

I had a little frog.
His name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub
to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water.
He ate up all the soap.
And then he BURPED last night
from a bubble in his throat.

Not bad, eh?

So that was our big Friday night entertainment.

Yes, we’re parents. How could you tell?

Pouf Sunny

I’m indulging a current obsession with poufs and made one for Sunny.

A custom jumbo crochet hook is on its way across the Atlantic so that I can make some adult sized versions of this bad boy.

The nesting instinct has turned into a knitting compulsion. The Sesame Seed should make her appearance soon, or my house will be overrun with odd, woolen accessories. Which is totally appropriate in this 100 degree weather.

Oof. POUF!

Buoy Lights

Let’s just say that the near completion of Kimmy’s wooden tug boat renovation has her glowing, much like these buoys. Adding one of these lights to the waters near the tug would make it THAT much cooler. As though it were possible.

Heck, I will take one for the patio of my home in the mountains.

LINKS: KEHA3 & TAF

Two.

I mean, I know it’s been a fact for over two months, but she really is SUCH a two-year old. So very cute. So prone to spontaneous meltdowns. So very opinionated.

James and I are kind of loving it. Screaming fits and all.

Just today, as I was headed to work, she stood by the door waving and said, “Bye-bye, Mommy. Bye-bye, Baby Sister. I see you later.”

Let’s hope we do indeed see Baby Sister sooner rather than later, for all our sakes.

Thanks to Nic for this priceless photo.

A new kind of intimacy.

We’ve reached that stage. That stage in the pregnancy where I am willing to do just about anything to hurry along my body’s journey to labor.

I am over being pregnant, y’all.

Over. It.

I may have pushed myself a little too hard yesterday. A walk to town with Sunny in 80 degree weather was the start of the problem. Then I came home, and instead of  heeding the beat red warning of my face, I decided that James and I needed to finish organizing and unpacking every last bit of infant paraphernalia stored in our home.

This involved completely rearranging the kitchen to make room for bottles, and breast pumps, and sterilization steamers.

It included pulling down mounds of blankets, and bibs, and burp clothes, and infant carriers, and bedding from their storage perches and folding and sorting the chaos.

It entailed dragging infant swings, and Bumbos, and vibrating chairs, and bathtubs from the basement and assembling each item.

And then we had to make room for each of said items, which involved rethinking the arrangement of Sunny’s toys and an overhaul of our living spaces.

Sunny raced around the piles of new goodies and delighted in thieving bottles from the kitchen and hiding them in her own play kitchen for use when she plays with her baby doll.

Precious indeed.

Although I was so hyped up on UNPACKING EVERYTHING, DAMN IT, that I barely took the time to revel in her big sisterly impulses.

By the time James and I crawled in bed at midnight, my vagina and the Sesame Seed were officially staging a protest of contempt for being overworked.

Like the Sesame Seed had to do anything but float in her amniotic swimming pool. I wish I were so lucky.

That didn’t seem to matter to her, as during the day she managed to sink even lower down my body (how she is not exiting my person at this stage defies physics), causing unmatched soreness and a waddle that makes Jemima Puddle Duck look like freakin’ Gisele.

It also started a series of contractions. One would think I’d be thrilled… CONTRACTIONS = LABOR = BABY = END OF PREGNANCY! The light at the end of the birth canal!

Alas, these contractions were of the faux nature. The kind that like to tease you, spit on your food, give you a wet willy, and run screaming the other way. They are just uncomfortable enough to keep you from slumber but not productive enough to lead to baby evacuation.

After two hours of counting the minutes between my uterus’ next onslaught of wedgies or liver pokes or other assorted pranks (Braxton Hicks, you are a cruel bully), I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Either we were going to really get this party started, or I was putting an end to this nonsense.

So I did what any pregnant woman who has been armed with all the wives’ tales of labor induction would do. I elbowed my husband in the gut and demanded that he have sex with me. And it better involve nipple tweaking.

A less-than-romantic 20 minutes later, the contractions had stopped. But the lady parts were still rebelling.

Solution?

Me: I need an ice pack. I’m not going to be able to sleep with this pain. I don’t think I could even make it to the freezer with this amount of pressure.

Him: Fiiiine.

Me: Don’t you give me that attitude. I just woke you up for sex. And I have to carry this baby around 24/7 while you only have to suffer through my neediness on account of this baby 22 out of 24 hours of the day. YOU GET TWO HOURS OF RESPITE. I get no such thing.

Him: Yeah, yeah. *shuffles off to kitchen and returns with ice pack*

Me: That is like the least friendly or accommodating ice pack in the history of ice packs. Couldn’t you have grabbed something more malleable like frozen peas or corn?

Him: Honestly, I didn’t want our food wedged between your groin all night. It didn’t seem sanitary.

Me: Oh please, I have underwear on and that shit is covered in plastic. We’ll throw out the bag tomorrow if it grosses you out that much but right now my vagina is taking precedence over frozen food.

And that, folks, is the story of how I got intimate with frosty peas. You’re welcome.

Juxtaposition.

I do miss that Mohawk.

Bathing Beauty

This kid is taking after her Mama. Yet another sun-loving lizard in the Ulmer line. Don’t worry, she is lathered head-to-toe in SPF 80, because we are cancer-fearing, sun-loving lizards.

Beaded Bracelet

I’m super excited to share this project with you, as it has been over two weeks in the making. I fussed around with many a mini-crochet needle and embroidery thread, and my house is now littered with bitty seed beads, to arrive at what I think is my favorite and most unique tutorial yet! Woo hoo!

Materials:
Embroidery thread (I used 6 stranded thread)
Crochet hook size 1 (2.75mm)
Seed beads
Jewelry clasps
Needle
Scissors

Directions:
Note: This pattern is for a bracelet that measures 6.5″ at completion. I needed just under 16′ of embroidery thread for that length. Adjust the pattern accordingly for your wrist size.

1. Thread needle onto one end of the embroidery thread.

2. String 40 seed beads in the color(s) and order of your choosing onto the embroidery thread.

3. Once all the beads are threaded, you will begin crocheting. The beads will be used in the 2nd row of the pattern. I learned to crochet by watching video tutorials from The Knit Witch on YouTube. This tutorial requires very basic skills, so don’t be intimated! Learn to chain stitch and then single crochet stitch.

4. Using crochet needle size 1, ch 45. Turn.

5. Row 1: 1 sc in 44 sts. Ch 1. Turn.

6. Row 2: 1 sc in 2 sts. Then, 1 sc in 40 sts sliding 1 seed bead into each st. 1 sc in 2 sts. Ch 1. Turn.

7. Row 3: 1 sc in 44 sts. Fasten off yarn.

8. Tie off the ends and trim. I like to secure the knots with some clear nail polish for extra security. Attach a jewelry ring on each end of the bracelet, adding a clasp to one of the rings. You can also crochet on extra long ends and tie a slip knot like I did in this DIY to make an adjustable bracelet. In one of the pictures below, a green bracelet is done in such a fashion. I prefer not to have all that extra thread dangling from my wrist, but it’s doable if you’d prefer to not have to buy clasps.

9. You can also create bracelets that double or triple or quadruple (you get the idea!) wrap. For this double wrap bracelet, I worked on 90 sts and used 80 beads. I then chose a toggle clasp to attach the ends. That is one nautical, two-toned arm.

Or you can always go the neon route, which is clearly a Blog a la Cart fav. Either way, you’ve created a more mature, adult friendship bracelet (as though that statement weren’t a total oxymoron!). It compliments the 9 month pregnant belly delightfully, no?

Admittedly, Sunny demands to wear the blue and “geen” one frequently. They have multi-generational appeal! (Note: Yes, her shirt reads, “I Love Boobies.” It’s from the Galapagos where Kimmy studied abroad her junior year of college and is an homage to the Blue Footed Booby. The shirt had a lovely double entendre when Sunny was breastfeeding, but we still find it amusing.)

Photos: Ashley Weeks Cart