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Today has been ups and downs. We started the day very early driving Jason to the walk-in clinic. He's just got a bit of bursitis in his elbow. No big deal, but a bit of a crimp in our schedule. On the bright side, Jason is being treated and we have a new family doctor (our last one moved out of the city and closed her practice here a few months back).

After dropping Jason off at work Georgia and I headed down to the local yarn shop for their monthly sale. Today it was anything in balls. I decided to take the plunge on some expensive Noro. I don't really like the feel of this yarn but I'm hoping it feels better once knitted, and to get the bright colours I was looking for this really was the only way to go.

This evening I wasted an hour or so doing what I always do when I buy a yarn without a very precise idea in mind. I know I want to make a scarf, but that still leaves it open to a lot of possibilities, so I stash the yarn in ravelry, and then look and see what other people have done with that same yarn. Sometimes you get an "ah hah!" moment where you see the PERFECT application. But more often than not you see a lot of examples of women grinning ear to ear in frumpy, mishapen knit disasters. It appears that it is a rare woman that can admit, after wasting hours of spare time, that what she has produced is in fact an atrocity that should not be allowed out in public. My personal favourites are the boldly and horizontally striped sweaters/coats/tunics/shells/shrugs/tank tops. Horizontal stripes are rarely flattering, make them a riot of mutiple colours and it is even less so. There's a special place in my black little heart reserved for the woman who knitted herself a large and unflattering sack 4 sizes too large and in her notes stated "Need to wear this with slim black pants/capris or a slim black skirt." Oh honey, that is soooo not going to help. Then there's the women who knit themselves "shrugs" that just look like they are re-purposing a garment stolen from their 4 year olds, complete with stretched-to-breaking fronts held together with a single button that is threatening to ping off and re-create that moment from the Incredibles trailer. Bonus points if their profile pic is of an adorable toddler, to whom they should probably return their "shrug". I'm tempted to post photographic evidence, but I'm not quite cold-hearted enough to mock a fellow knitter by name. Talking about these poor, tasteless, misguided souls in a general sense is one thing, but identifying them, even if they never saw themselves here, is a bit low even for me. Totally tempted though...

After the yarn shop, it was a beautiful day so I tossed my coat in the car, secured Georgia in her Moby and headed off to walk the strip. South Congress is an interesting place in which most of the stores give off a painful "trying too hard to be hip" kind of vibe. There's a lot of junk (they call it "vintage") shops, and stores selling crappy imported stuff (cheaply made jewelery and nick knacks), and then there was the back-alley record store that slavishly sold only vinyl. There's also the local food scene, which varies from nicer restaurants down to trailers flogging everything from tamales and BBQ to cupcakes and pies.

Most of the stroll was quite enjoyable, but I have learned an unpleasant thing... I can no longer shop in thrift stores. It's not that I ever did terribly well at these places. I lack the patience to sift through rack after rack of strange smelling garments for the perfect pieces. I did get my sewing machine from one of these places though, and at $35 for the machine and the table it was mounted in it was a total steal. I think I've been using it for 3 years now without so much as a single tune-up. Based on that success I keep holding out hope that I'm going to snag a really nice desk, dresser or mirror, so I poke my nose in if I happen to be close to one. In the length of time it took to walk from one end of this store to the other (just walking, not stopping to look at anything) I had 3 people try to touch Georgia. Complete strangers just sauntering up and trying to pet her like she was a chihuahua in my purse or something. The first woman simultaneously touched her sleeve and reprimanded me for letting her head flop forward (she's asleep, comfortable and none of your damn business lady). The second came out of nowhere and without saying a thing to me reached for Georgia's face. She barely brushed it before I swatted her hand away and she then shot me a look like *I* was the rude one in this exchange. As I passed the counter on my way out an old lady behind the counter exclaimed "she's so cute" and started rushing out from behind the counter. I high-tailed it outta there as I can easily outpace a senior citizen, even with 15 extra pounds and a door to contend with because the look on her face (and of course the bolting out from behind the counter) made it quite clear that she was wanting to reach out and touch.

I would never DREAM of touching anyone's child if they were not someone I was familiar with. What on earth would make these people think that is acceptable behaviour? Outside the thrift shop many people complimented me on how pretty she is (people especially like her eyes and eyelashes) but not one of them ever got within a foot of her. They didn't even bend down to get a better look much less reach for her. And some of them I even chatted with for a while!!! And right now, while we're dealing with the whole swine flu thing (we still have it here, Jason's bosses were both sent home for 2 weeks last month to recover from it) do they not get that physical contact with strangers is ill advised to say the least, especially for the young with their immature immune systems? The ill manners and over-familiarity must be something to do with the common background of these people. There has to be a pattern to the 3 attempted touches in 5 minutes I was there vs none in the other 3 hours I spent on the street and in other shops where I actually spoke to people. The only pattern I can discern is that we were in a religious charity shop. So it's either socio-economic class or religion. Am I more likely to encounter this kind of over-friendliness if I go to a Goodwill or a church? I don't spend a whole lot of time in either of these places so I wouldn't have had a chance to notice a pattern myself. And of course this is the first time I've set foot in a charity shop with a baby. So can I still comfortably wander into thrift stores if I confine my hunting to Goodwills?
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Had a Rec League roller derby game today. I played for "team pink". It was a wonderful game. Low-stress because I wasn't really invested in the score. We lost by a landslide but I didn't really care. My goals were to keep up, get some good blocks in and have a good time. I succeeded on all counts. I had one GREAT block where I came from the back of the pack and knocked a jammer right out. On several occasions I was in the right place at the right time. It was awesome. I usually feel so useless out there, so this was a nice change. I wasn't like an all-star player or anything, but I didn't make a complete fool of myself.

It was a "closed-door" game so spectators were not invited. Georgia (and Daddy who had to come to watch her) were the only exceptions because of the breast feeding thing. Georgia happily slept through the first half of the game and then woke up and just LOVED watching the second half. Brightly coloured girls going in circles are AWESOME! She was totally silent for the whole thing. She smiled at every roller girl that came up to chat with her, and then babbled in the back of the car all the way home. It was like she was telling us about what she'd just seen. It was super-cute.

In other news, I have started my Ravelympics project... my very first sweater. I am kinda cheating in that I am making it for Georgia. I just don't feel any real desire to make a sweater for myself. Seems like a lot of work for something that might not end up fitting any better than something I could buy. For me I'll stick to hats, scarves, mitts and fun little things.

Any other knitters or crocheters out there, or if you just want to see what I'm working on, feel free to check me out on Ravelry.
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New cloth diapering products that my fellow cloth diapering mamas may be interested in.

Cloth )

How have your cloth diapering adventures been going? What would you recommend and have you tried anything that just didn't work at all?
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This feeding on demand thing isn't working out terribly well at the moment. The problem being supply and demand are not lining up. Either she's desperately hungry and angry with me for being empty because she's already drunk it all, or I'm so full I'm ready to explode and she's dead asleep. Hopefully this will work itself out and we'll synch-up.

In other news, wore a pair of pre-pregnancy pants for the first time this week - woo! They're hip-huggers and a bit large for me, but they seem to be fitting the same as they did before so I'll take my small victory. Maybe later I'll run through some of my pants in the closet to see if there's anything else I can squeeze into. My tummy still looks pretty disastrous, but I am confident that it will all go back in time. Just two more weeks and a bit before I can start working on it.
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Hmmmm... it appears I've used that subject line before. Well, that's the situation. It's before 5:30 in the morning and I am up. What is this world coming to? I had an afternoon nap yesterday (not a long one even) but I'm still yawning so I'm obviously not completely rested. However, I can't sleep. My mind is all abuzz with the various projects I'm working on and it's not like I can get comfortable, and I was STARVING, so I gave in to the rumbly tummy, and decided to stop tossing and turning and messing up Jason's sleep and got up.

Things on the project list:
- super-sekret giftie thing for Mona
- viking mobile (x2 - one for a gift and one for me)
- throw pillow covers (4)
- master bedroom curtains
- cloth menstrual pads (this was where most of the thinky was going)
- baby blankets
- burp cloths
- finish wooden animals for Em
- paint and finish Jason's box
- make box for me
- cloth dolls for baby (long-term project, no immediate deadline, some thinky here too)

I'm thinking based on the hour that I'm going to have to do something that doesn't require power tools, not even the sewing machine, just so I don't wake Jason yet again. So that narrows it to mobiles or ironing all the pre-washed flanelette that's all over the dining room table (blankets, burp cloths and cloth pads). Mobiles are more fun, but maybe the brainlessness of ironing is good for this hour of the day. If I finish that quickly maybe I can start cutting out all the pieces for various things too.
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Did a MAJOR cleaning today. Vacuumed and mopped every floor on the main floor (except my craft room, which again is one of those rooms I can't really get to enough floor to be worth vacuuming yet) and moved all the furniture to do so. No, I am not nesting, if anything I'm UN-nesting, or to be more precise, trying to get rid of every single damn ant and whatever nest they came out of. In the course of cleaning I found ants under the dog bed, in the middle of the room, crawling up walls and curtains and along window sills and generally everywhere. It took all day (and I was doing laundry while I was at it) and now I am just completely exhausted. I've told Jason he gets to bring home food tonight because there is no way I can face cooking after all that. We're getting Chinese take-out - yum!

On the bright side, other than the stairs (which I can't face without a stair attachment, speaking of which I should go and order one now) and the upstairs game room, every room we use is all nice and clean now. If I just tidied up a bit of clutter I could even take pictures of the place. I might do that later this week, but right now I am bushed.

I've also got every single cloth diaper I've bought in the washer right now. The used ones need to be stripped as they smell detergenty and I've also got a couple dozen new ones. So that's 4 dozen infant pre-folds, 2 dozen regular pre-folds and 1 dozen flat folds (to make into burp cloths). They barely fit in the washer. I'm hoping when they get water added and swell up that they don't break it. I figure a couple of washes and passes through the dryer to fluff and I'll do the last pass tomorrow and put them out on the line I hung last week to sun-bleach and they'll be all ready to go.

I also pruned my African Irises as they were looking a little scraggly this morning. So yeah, I've been busy.
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I spent my first 4th of July here doing some very un-patriotic things.

First we took the beagles to the off-leash dog park bright and early in the morning. There was supposed to be a "beagle brigade" meeting, but only 2 or 3 other beagles were there, so it wasn't much different from the average day at that park. I assume next month or maybe the month after will be better. The holiday and the heat probably had something to do with it. Beagles had a grand time. It was *just* cool enough that they felt like they could run around and play a bit. Lizzy was a gross, slobbery mess though. And neither of them would stop for long enough to drink until we had them back in the car - dumb dogs.

After the dog park, it was still relatively cool so I decided I'd tackle a project out in the garage. I still owe Emer a gift for her daughter and she was lamenting the availability of SCA-appropriate toys, so this is what I whipped up this afternoon:

Ealdormere
The Animals of Ealdormere - Series 1

Not sure if there will ever be a series two as neither rams nor boars really inspire me. They still need a final bit of sanding, but by the time these were done it was so hot out in the garage that I was finding new places to sweat, so that's getting done another day.

I chose not to make them to scale because I wanted them all to be nice and big and choke-proof. The Holtztiger toys they are modeled loosely after are made out of hardwood and painted and also recommended for children 3+ and I'm thinking it's because of the size variation (some would be small enough to swallow). Mine are made out of softwood instead of hardwood because that's what I had on hand (left over from making the shelves) and it's a little easier to work. Less durable, but I'm not sure getting a little banged up is a big deal; they're toys, not fine art. I've tried to design them so all the parts are relatively thick and well-supported so they are less prone to breakage (things like legs and tails especially).

I'm still trying to decide whether I want to paint or varnish them or just give them a final sanding and leave them as-is. They're going to be your toys Emer, what would you prefer? Also, do these look like something you'd like for M to play with or shall I head back to the drawing board and come up with something else? (I'm cool if you'd prefer something else, I'd rather send you something you want than something that will never be used after all)

So yeah, I spent my Independence Day asserting my independence of America by making little toy animals representing Canadian SCA places.

Tonight backyard bonfire, watching what fireworks we can see from our backyard and making smores. Not the worst plan ever, and no fighting crowds or traffic at the end of the night either.
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Pregnancy is strange. One day I feel almost normal, the next I feel completely horrid. Just yesterday I was feeling pretty good in my body, able to do most of the things I tried, and generally doing okay. The day before I even did a little work out (motivated by watching a "competitive eater" demonstrate his "sport" on Wifeswap, which made me almost throw up in my mouth and totally got my ass off the couch before the episode was half-finished). Today my stomach feels heavy and stretched almost to the point of breaking. Even the slight motion of walking makes me feel like it's going to pop and I can't seem to take a full breath. It hurts like heck. And don't even get me started on how hard bending or going up the stairs is. Yesterday I was taking them two at a time. This sucks. I think it's because the baby has shifted into a strange position. Or at least that seems to be what would make sense. I get one of these days about once a week, and then suddenly she shifts and I'm fine again. I imagine they'll get more frequent (if not constant) by the end though. And ow - ow - fuck - ow - she just kicked something REALLY sensitive. I'm not sure what but holy shit that stung.

Jason is off today because of the holiday. As I had him home I decided we'd finish up some stuff that required two people to do. We had to move a bookcase to make room for a CD storage rack that I picked up for him, and that's been waiting to be done for a month now or maybe more. We also got 3 pictures hung in the hallway/games room. On my own I varnished the shelves for the baby's room and the top of the changing table/dresser as we've discovered in the Texas heat and humidity stuff sticks to painted surfaces. I'm hoping stuff doesn't stick as well to polyurethane, but that remains to be tested. I also mounted all the brackets for the baby's room shelves and I'm just about to fetch the varnished shelves and put it all together. Might then take a moment to tidy the room up and give it a vacuum. That means all that's left to be done in there is shortening the curtain, making a few throw pillows (optional) and getting a crib. Anything else I take on (hanging mobiles and stuff) is just gravy.

Earlier this week I also hung the curtain rod for the quilt, re-hung the guest/kid's bathroom towel rack to a reasonable height and hung a picture over it to brighten the room up and finished assembling the filing cabinet. I still haven't done any laundry for myself and yesterday opted to just buy more clothes. Yeah, I know, not the best choice, but I was dreadfully short on t-shirts that still fit at this point. Not the most productive week I've ever had, but certainly not the least either.

Still on the to-do list for today:
- get passport photos taken
- mail passport applications off
- try new bubble tea place in Pflugerville
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Chair is teh awesome! Not in mint, fresh out of the box condition, but as it is wooden, it's just like buying a piece from a good antique store. A couple of nicks and scrapes, but perfectly good from 20'. As the chair only cost $100 compared to the $250 + tax I would have paid retail I'm quite delighted with it. Ironically, if I'd chatted more I could have gotten it for less. The reason the woman was selling it because she was converting her storage room to a sewing room. She has no friends who are interested in sewing and her family is also uninterested. I mentioned that I am also an avid sewer, but as we had the doggies in the car I couldn't stick around and get into a lengthly discussion. When I got home, on a whim I e-mailed her a link to my site with my Tudor. She replied that if she'd had any idea I could sew like that she would have bartered the chair for sewing lessons instead of money. Rats.

In other fantastic news, when Jason finally came home last night he also brought the mail with him and my baby gift from [livejournal.com profile] rectangularcat was one of the packages that arrived. I eagerly ripped it open and I am just awed by what she found for me. Perfect doesn't even begin to describe it. She found a black onesie (which all by itself is nearly impossible) with a button spider and embroidered spider web on it that is just too cute for words, and a ruffled skirt with skulls and crossbones that is just made of awesome! She also sent two sets of legwarmers (that can also be used as adult wrist-wraps, so these will get used for YEARS) one with pirate skulls and the other black and purple stripes (awww, baby legs will match mommy's legs). I tremble before her superior shopping skills and will take pictures to post later so you can all see what great finds she got for me! Thanks so much [livejournal.com profile] rectangularcat, and I just hope you think my giftie is just as cool when I finally get it done and mailed off to you (though I have my doubts, how can I possibly out-cool that skirt?).

Off to work on dining room curtains again since that task got interrupted last night with a run out to buy a chair. And of course need to clean the fabric again since Anna decided curtains on floor = dog bed.
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I know a lot of parents set rules for what their kids are and are not allowed to play with. My mother in law had a thing against guns. I can't recall any rules my parents might have had. As far as I can recall, we had everything. Though some things got taken away after a while (for example, the Snoopy Snow Cone Machine made a mysterious disappearance when it was discovered just how very messy it was).

I'm toying with a rule for our house... nothing electronic or requiring a battery. Nothing drives me quite as nuts as hearing the same electronic tune over and over like a cell phone that won't stop ringing. I'm not necessarily against repetitive tunes (my mother used to have a musical mobile that wound up and worked like a music box and I thought that was fantastic, and it obviously played only one thing) nor am I against noise in general (banging pots and pans is okay by me). What bothers me about it is the reliance on technology to entertain, and the waste of energy this represents. I don't think children, especially very young ones, need batteries to be entertained. I'd like to try to be environmentally responsible, and battery-powered toys just don't fit with my ideals there. It's certainly something that will be revisited when the kid gets old enough to want a Nintendo DS, but as an infant/toddler, it's something I'd like to avoid.

I'm also not real nuts about plastic, but I don't think I'll be quite as strict on that one. So far everything I've purchased has been made of wood, metal or cloth or a combination of those things. I've got some used stuff that's plastic that I will probably keep, and I don't think we'll be refusing gifts that aren't natural materials, but I have a preference anyway.

Other than the little beagle stuffed animal, and the used toys I got off craigslist and my mother, we haven't really got any toys for the baby yet, so today I went out in the world to see what I could find. Shopping for toys is (as expected) a tonne of fun!!! Babyearth had a fantastic selection of wooden toys that I was just drooling over. Many were for children of an older age range, and I can't wait to start buying building blocks, tea sets and little pots and pans and rolling pins and the like (Ikea has an amazing selection of this stuff). Though there wasn't as much selection for the very youngest kids, I did manage to find a few items that were suitable for our not-even-here-yet little one. Between Ikea and Babyearth I secured an abacus, a bead roller coaster, a band in a box, and a wooden rattle/teether thingy. The teether is probably the only thing that will be useful at this point, and even then it might take a few months. The other items will just be colourful room decor for now. I'm not sure about the age ranges for stuff or when babies get interested in something other than sleeping and eating. I also picked up a couple of those little fabric books with different textures and stuff on the pages. Rhonda said those are a big hit at the pediatrician's office where she works.

For the future, I'm desperately wanting The Coliseum in wooden blocks! but that's for a few years down the road anyway. And I think we just might have to get the beagle to watch over the nursery. I'm also waiting for babyearth to get a restock on this neat little wooden roller toy. And apparently I'm told I need to get some kind of tummy-time play mat or baby gym with hanging things and also stuff at ground level to encourage time on both back and tummy. There's lots of variety and selection in this area though, so I figured I'd let Jason come along on the shopping trip for that. I could get inspired and make one myself, but with everything else that still needs doing around the house (curtains and stuff) I'm not sure I'd find the time. Probably easier just to find one we like and buy it.

Honestly, I get way more excited about the play possibility of classic toys that inspire creativity and imagination-play than electronic doo-dads. And I seem to remember I felt the same way as a kid. I just hope my child shares that opinion.
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The garage is getting better. I spent today hanging all kinds of things to organize the big tools (ladders, shovels, rakes and the like). And yes, I was up on a ladder, and yes I hoisted the big ladder up to almost ceiling height, while standing on another ladder, all by myself. Honestly, I don't get women who feel fragile or held back at all during this pregnancy thing. As far as I can tell my balance hasn't been affected that much (if it hadn't gotten hot while I was in the garage I might have strapped on some skates because I'm just feeling that confident again). About the only things I know I can't do are a sit up and reaching easily across counters (belly is just getting in the way, so it's like my arms are shorter). I can still climb, catch myself when I do lose balance (as I sometimes did when not pregnant too) without having to grab onto anything external and jog without any discomfort. I'm tired of being treated like I'm made of bone china.

While I was out in the garage the beagles were well-behaved. No one got up on the couch or chewed up anything that wasn't theirs. It's nice having well-behaved beagles.


I've been trying to make conscious decisions to keep some of my muscle strength up (and restore the bit that I lost when I felt shitty in the first trimester). For example, at the birthing class we all sit on the floor and I notice I'm the only one in the room getting up without using my hands. If you want to help both your thighs and your balance, try that, it works very well. It's a drill we used to do in roller derby back in Edmonton. Sigh... have I mentioned how much I miss roller derby lately? Going to the game on Sunday just made me miss it all the more.

Jason should be home soon, then dinner and Warcraft. Might try to tidy up the living room a little while I wait. Or maybe I'll do my birthing class exercises (which by the way seem way to easy and not nearly intense enough to actually do anything, I might have to modify them a bit).
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I'm not entirely sold on the usefulness of the class. The workbook seems to be very "hippy dippy" and a bit propaganda-y. Their statements definitely give the impression that giving birth without drugs is totally achievable, but only with the assistance of their classes. The video they showed actually opened with the statement "natural childbirth was invented by *some guy's name* in the 1930s" uh, really? So all the babies born before modern medicine were delivered into this world how? It does focus a lot on what the husband has to do to be helpful, and that's what I was really looking for anyway. I have no doubt that I'll get through this (not like I have a choice at this point), but I was worried about Jason being at loose ends during the delivery, and I know I'll do better if he's with me and with it.

The patio furniture is all done, so now I'm working on arranging it. I think we need a larger patio. Or I need to figure out a better spot for the BBQ. Right now it's up against the wall blocking the flow from the back door and obstructing part of the family room windows. I think it should be up against the wall of the house to minimize the chance of it tipping over in the wind and there really isn't any other space it can go that doesn't completely block a window. But damn it's big and totally in the way. For now everything is out there and it fits, it just isn't an inspiring layout.

Today I think I might tackle garage organization. I've got all the stuff and just need to devote some time and thought as to where to put everything. Got ladders and shovels and crap to get up and out of the way and I need to find homes for all my power tools. I might also work a bit on the family room as it has become a bit of a dumping ground in the last few weeks. Lots of filing to do and SCA stuff to put away that just ended up dumped inside the door. I'm also feeling a bit like making myself some new garb (even if it might not fit) so I might clean up my sewing room. Lots to do, time to get off the couch and tackle it.
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This has to be up there among the worst birthdays ever, which is funny since the year it marks has been one of the best. And no, it wasn't because of anything anyone did or did not do exactly, it's just hard for a day not to suck when you're very pregnant and your husband gives you the flu. Seriously Jason, worst gift ever!

thoughts on a birthday )

thoughts on my 30th year )

I have to say, it's been a good year.
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May's task was purchasing stuff for the baby and getting the nursery prepared. I'm almost done that job and almost done May, so it's time for a new task.

June's task: preparing food for myself for the first few weeks of baby.

I figure when the baby first comes home I'll be exhausted. Unlike most people, I'm pretty short on friends and family to bring over casseroles and stuff, and even if I had that I wouldn't want to lean on people that way. I also don't want to rely on take-out or store-bought frozen food because it's both expensive and not great for me, and in the case of frozen dinners pretty much inedible. With that in mind, I'm trying to make a few things that can be frozen and reheated to serve.

I've got some persian rice from months ago that's still in in the freezer that will do a meal or two. I made chili last week and froze one dinner's worth. I can make spaghetti sauce, though that's less than ideal because it requires boiling pasta, which in the Texas summer heat is not something I'll be inclined to do. Today I made a lovely stew and I'll be freezing half of it. Lasagna would be nice, but as it would require the oven to reheat properly it's right out. Next week I'll make a stir fry because believe it or not, that actually freezes and reheats well. And at that point I'm all out of ideas.

I've got LOTS of freezer space (almost empty deep freeze waiting to be filled) and I'd prefer things that can be reheated in the microwave or on the BBQ.

What foods do you make in advance and freeze for yourself?

What things do you know reheat well in the microwave or on the BBQ?

Got any recipes you'd like to share?
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This morning I'm driving Jason to work and we're chatting about stuff we need to do. By the time we get to his office I've already forgotten one of the things I told him to take care of. I made a comment that it must be the whole baby-brain thing. His response... "no, we've already seen baby eats your fat, not your brains. It's not a zombie baby."

Baby has been about the best diet plan ever. I'm just doing what I was doing before I got pregnant in terms of exercise and diet, but my upper arms are looking a little less flabby and if I tense my abs I really can't pinch anything there any more. Still have a bit of unwanted flab in my back and around my face (as you can tell from the zillions of chins in my last post) and bathing suit shopping last week revealed some serious cellulite in my thighs that I'm sure wasn't there before. I'm sure the leg thing is because I've had to give up cycling and derby due to balance issues. First trimester I was too exhausted to even think about wasting extra energy on frivolous things like cycling and skating. I don't really feel that out of balance and I think I could still roller skate, but I also think that people would have my head if I tried it at this point, so I've hung up the skates for a few more months. I'll be very excited to strap them back on in the fall. By then some of the construction should ease off so the roads might even be cleaner, which would be fantastic.

As discussed last post, threw my back out yesterday afternoon so the curtains didn't get done. Heck, other than gathering all the stuff together I didn't even get started on them. I went to the chiropractor this morning so I'm feeling a little more sorted. Might go have a nap since I hardly slept at all last night with the pain and then get up and see if I feel like tackling curtains. Overall though I'm feeling like taking it easy today.
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The house is slowly coming together. This morning I finally hung the last two blinds I purchased six months ago, so now every bedroom has a blind. That should help a lot with our AC bill this summer. The baby's room felt like it dropped a few degrees within a half hour of me putting it up. Also hung the curtain rod in the baby's room, so all I need now is the actual curtain to be made. I've purchased the black-out fabric and I already had the pretty fabric, so as soon as I get off the couch and have a shower I'll put it all together and be done with that room as much as I can be for now. Still waiting on Ikea to get that crib back in stock, and we do have a bit of art/mirrors we might hang over the weekend, but that's no biggie. No curtain rod yet in the "box room" as we still don't really have a need/use for that space, so I don't want to make any decorating decisions beyond the blind. Also vacuumed the baby's room, upstairs hallway and game room, so the house is looking a little better than it did this morning. Have I mentioned how much I hate the tedious repetitiveness of housecleaning?

Earlier this week I got the chest of drawers all refinished, lugged it up to the baby's room and set it in place. Then spent a morning ripping open all the packages of baby stuff, filling drawers, setting out the changing pad, making the day bed and putting sheets on the crib mattress so I could get an idea how the room would look when it's done. So far I'm liking it a lot. Very refreshing with all the green. Gender neutral without being yellow, which is a colour I have always loathed. Now I'm left wondering... do I leave everything all neatly put away like it is and just pull it out and use it as it's needed, or should I be pre-washing all the onesies and sheets and stuff?

Today I tested my new Moby wrap on Anna beagle. She was, as always, very tolerant. I was able to get up and walk around a bit with her strapped to me. Beagle is a bit different from baby, so I'm still not sure if I can do this with a child, but I'm hopeful. From Anna, I got face licks for my trouble. When Jason gets home we might do a repeat performance so I can capture it in photos - heh.

This weekend is a long weekend, but I'm hoping that I won't have to tie Jason to the house with all kinds of boring housework, so I'm trying to get some stuff accomplished before the weekend hits. That said, there are some things that need to be done that I will need his help with.

to do list )

Not the smallest list ever, but not an insurmountable mountain of stuff either. Hopefully I can get some of it out of the way tonight as dinner is just leftovers and tackle a good amount of it tomorrow while Jason is at work so we can actually enjoy some of the weekend. Not that I have any idea what we want to do mind you. I'm thinking the beagles could certainly use some walks anyway.
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Me. I went out to put the final coat of paint on the drawers and remembered that I wanted to fill the holes at the top that once-upon-a-time were used to hold an attached mirror, which has long since been re-purposed in my mum's house and is no longer going to be a part of this piece of furniture. Not a problem since attached mirrors have kind of gone the way of the dodo, and I have a mirror I was going to hang on the wall behind this piece of furniture. Slight problem in that a 3/8" hole really cannot be entirely filled with wood filler. I figure I need some sort of dowel in there. Of course that is something I forgot to pick up today on my stop at Lowes. I was hungry and thinking about supper, so I just got paint and left. Annoying because I've found a little extra burst of energy and motivation this weekend and would really like to just get on with this project.

I figure maybe I'll get lucky and the 24-hour Wal-Mart will have it, and they have other things I need anyway, so I head out. I didn't spot anything in the hardware section on my own so I tried to ask one of the employees. Poor kid didn't even know what a dowel was. He ran off and got some other guy who did know what they were, and was also pretty sure that they didn't carry them. Yet one more reason why Canadian Tire is better than Wal-Mart. No grocery and pharmacy, but generally a better selection on those areas that they do have in common. I'm dead sure I could have gotten dowel at Canadian Tire. One of the things I miss most about Canada (after my friends of course, and the health care) is the shopping. I miss Loblaws/Canadian Superstore and all the PC products, and I miss Canadian Tire - sigh.

On the bright side, Wal-Mart does have a baby section and the disposables I'd been considering for week-1 were on sale, so I grabbed a few packages. Let's see how Huggies "Pure and Natural" work out for us. I figure between the 14 weeks I still have before the due date and 60 of these to tide me through the first week I have lots of time to make a decision on which cloth ones to use. Right now we seem to be deciding between pre-folds and the service.

Interestingly, still working on the name thing, and that is technically going to come up before diapers or all this furniture, car seats and stuff I've bought. I think we've stalled out on that issue. Probably because it is a much bigger decision than which "play yard" to buy or where to put the poop.

I guess since the dresser project is on hold until tomorrow I might as well get some sleep.
norsegirl: (Default)
Today's debate du jour... how to diaper our future child? I'm pretty dead-set against disposibles. Despite the chemical company propaganda, I can't believe any of them are environmentally sound. And I'm honestly not thrilled with the idea of having them hang around the house until garbage day. It's fucking hot here, so garbage starts to smell real fast. I also just read something that suggested that one of the chemicals in disposables are toxic to pets. And if I'm not watching them like hawks, I can totally see the beagles tipping over a garbage and having a snack. That puts disposables right out, though we may use them for the first week or two while we're getting settled and I'm recovering. I'd rather not, but we'll see.

Let's then go with the assumption that we're going to go with cloth... what type to choose?

Diaper service
We could pay for a diaper service, which is nice in that you don't have to do to any more effort than using a disposable. In fact it's slightly less effort because you don't even have to go out to buy more diapers, they just show up on your doorstep. Though you do have to cart used diapers around if you have to change when you are out. Not as big a deal for me since we have only one car and I almost never go anywhere except maybe a quick trip to the grocery store anyway. I figure this will cost about the same as disposables, which is a pretty penny over the years, but it does save me some considerable effort.

Pre-fold diapers
The cheapest option, and the same sort of diaper as used by the service. Would require me to do lots of laundry and figure out how to sanitize them, but would save all kinds of money.

Fitted diapers
Easy to put on like disposables, but far more expensive than the pre-folds. Would of course require the laundering like the pre-folds, and would be a much bigger up-front cost to get a big enough supply to go this way, so it might wind up costing almost as much as the service.

Thoughts?

In other news, have already done a few loads of laundry and put a second coat of primer on the dresser, so today is off to a productive start. Going to go have a shower and see what else I can accomplish.
norsegirl: (Default)
After the last post I went outside, sanded down an old chest or drawers and put on the first layer of primer. So that's one nasty piece of furniture well on its way to being decent again. My goal was just to get it sanded and tackle the painting tomorrow, so I feel very good about today's work.

My strollers arrived today, so I'm off to open the boxes. Squee! Everything is coming together nicely.

Tomorrow's tasks:
- chiropractic visit again
- return the full-priced stroller I bought
- return the diaper genie
- return the mattress covers to Ikea
- pick up a light-weight duvet from Ikea as our old Edmonton-weight one is cooking us now
- go to a cooking class with Rhonda

I might try to squeeze some curtain making or blind hanging in there too. And Jason is whining that he has no clothes, so I should probably consider doing laundry at some point.
norsegirl: (Default)
I started my hunt for baby stuff in earnest this week. It's amazing to me how much stuff you need for a baby. I got some stuff used, and some stuff brand new but on clearance. A few rare things I paid full price for. I still ended up spending a small fortune though.

Things I got used:
- travel play pen
- car seat
- baby bath
- booster seat
- small box of toys
- high chair
- diaper champ
Got all the above for a mere $50. It isn't in the best shape, but for the price I can pick and choose once I've got it clean

Things I got new and on sale for cheap:
- Infant car seat, reg $170, bought the floor model for $48
- MacLaren Traveller buggy, reg $80, bought an "open box" model for $60
- MacLaren Quest Sport stroller, reg $245, bought last year's model for $175
- Maclaren infant bouncer/rocker, reg $90, floor model (or open box I can't remember which) $45
- 5-pack of 0-3month onsies $2.37 - gotta love that price, got 2 packs of them
- 3-pack of long-sleeved onsies in 3-6 and 6-9 months, $5

Things I paid full price for because I'm a sucker:
- 2 different 4-packs of receiving blankets ($10)
- 2 packs of "baby washcloths" ($3)
- 1 pack each of newborn and 0-3 month onsies ($9)
- 2 packs of fitted crib mattress covers
- 2-pack of fitted crib sheets from Ikea
- crib mattress from Ikea
- Changing pad
- Changing pad sheet

Things I still need to get:
- Gulliver crib from Ikea. Apparently they're having some sort of supplier problem. I hope they solve it before I give birth.
- Disposible diapers for the first few weeks and then we'll look into cloth
- some sort of play mat
- slings
- Need to refinish the old dresser to be storage and a changing table

Things I lust after but am having a hard time justifying the expense of:
- Stokke Tripp Trapp High Chair seriously, have you seen a more beautiful piece of kids' furniture?
- a new playpen instead of a used one. The used one could then be used for camping and outdoors and I could keep the new one clean and neat. But do I really need 2 playpens?

Any of the more experienced mothers out there have anything to add to the list that I don't yet realize I'll need?

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September 2010

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