Tumbleweeds

Yes, that's what's been blowing through here lately. Want to know why? Here's a quick digest:

• This winter has been crazy cold, and therefore, depressing. I mean, it's almost March, and we STILL have negative temperatures. WTH?
• Referring to the point above, as we all have been spending way more time inside than we really should, we've been sick. For, like, a month. And no, I'm not joking. It all started at Owen's daycare, where he caught croup and developed a nasty double ear infection. Then, because he's all about sharing these days, he shared his germs with me and I got really sick (I'm STILL sick, to be perfectly honest - it's a cold that has developed into a nasty sinus infection). Somehow, the plague Gods smiled down on Brian and he has yet to get sick, but we'll see how long that lasts....
• Work = crazytown, both because it's been busy and also because I've had to miss work due to Owen getting sick, and then me getting sick. Which is just, you know, great when you have gazillion things you need to get done!

Oh, and did I mention - we need to have the house show-ready by tomorrow. Right now, it's full of crushed up Goldfish crackers, mounds of laundry that need to be washed/put away, and used Kleenex.

I'll be back soon, I promise. Hopefully with clearer sinuses, less of a cough, and a cleaner house.

Adios 2014 - Howdy Ho, 2015!

Wow, it's been a heck of a year. I started a new job, said goodbye to a beloved pet, and...wait, what else did I do?

Oh yeah. I started this little spot on the web. :)

Because I'm a nerd, I have been keeping track of the most popular posts over the past year. Well, ladies and gents, in case you were curious and want to relive them in all of their glory, here they are:


No-Sew Kitchen Curtains - by a landslide! Who knew my frustration with ugly curtains coupled with my lack of sewing ability would lead so many peeps here?

Re-Upholstering a Chair - this was one ugly chair when I got it. Some fabric, scissors and a staple gun later, it's far more presentable.

Creating a Reclaimed Wood Shelf (aka - the West Elm Hack) - I have expensive taste, but am pretty dang frugal, which is a constant source of frustration. So, instead of just buying the West Elm shelf I wanted, I made one.

Addressing the elephant in the room: I know I've been MIA lately. Work and the holidays have really sucked up a lot of my time. Oh, and a little secret project I can't share any info on yet (no, I'm not pregnant - we're happy to be One and Done for the foreseeable future). I'm hoping I can share more details soon, so please keep your fingers and toes crossed that it works out.

I'm no good at keeping resolutions, so I'm not going to proudly proclaim any. Really, being better is an ongoing process that doesn't need the start of a new year to kickstart. That's my excuse philosophy and I'm sticking to it.

Truth Time

I really hate blog posts that go on and on about why posting has dwindled, apologizing for life getting in the way of blogging. I've done it in the past, and I've vowed to try to keep them to a bare minimum.

However, I'm sure you've noticed it's been a bit quiet here lately, so I feel that - though annoying - I owe you guys an explanation.

Here's a rundown of what's been going on:

1. Remember when I said I started a new job? Well, there was a reason they hired me - because they needed help handling a lot of work. So that has been keeping me quite busy for the past couple of months. I work hard for the money! ;)
2. I had a bit of a health scare a few weeks back - while at work, I got really fatigued, lightheaded and nauseous, and just generally felt moody and awful. I had a blood test to get to the bottom of what was going on, and discovered I'm deficient in the sunshine vitamin (aka: Vitamin D). I'm on a prescription strength supplement now, and I'm already feeling MUCH better.
3. Owen has entered the Terrible Twos...6 months early. Holy cow, can that child scream when he doesn't get what he wants (I think he gets that from me, poor kid). He's gotten a LOT better over the past few weeks due to us taking suggestions from family and friends, like ignoring him when he's having a tantrum over nothing, calmly explaining why what he's doing is not acceptable behavior, etc.
4. The house purchase that didn't happen quite as we had hoped, which I've already told you about.

Since I'm starting to feel better, posts will become more frequent in the coming weeks. Thank you all for your patience, I just felt like I needed to get my footing back and prioritize myself and my health for the time being.

Well. That was fun.

So, I think I've finally gotten to a not-so-emotional way of sharing this. Which is only done through the healing powers of time passing by.

Long story short, we are not buying the house. It was due to a myriad of reasons, but focused on two: the incompetence of our loan officer and the fact that it really wasn't our favorite house to begin with.

Oh, and it was a touch too expensive. Although we can easily afford it on both of our incomes, if I want any hope of going freelance/part time in the next few years around when Owen starts Kindergarten, then buying this house will be a step in the wrong direction for that.

I honestly was never wild with the idea of buying this house, but we got tired of looking and thought it might be easier. Turns out, it wasn't - in fact, after jumping through hoop after hoop after hoop, we found ourselves asking: "Is it really worth it??"

The answer, my friends, was a resounding no. My gut was screaming at me not to go through with it, that it was a bad idea. I've made the mistake of not listening to it in the past, and I wanted to heed the warning before it was too late.

We are shelving the house hunt for the time being - come early 2015, we'll be back at it, and will likely be regaling all of you with our tales. Be prepared, peeps.

So, I know this blog is all about injecting character into a cookie cutter home - namely, the one we're currently living in. Just because we are going to buy another home does not mean this blog is going away; in fact, there's a bit I'd like to do to it so we can make it more presentable for a prospective buyer, so that should be fun.

Stay tuned. :)

Why I am the master home decorator

So sorry for the delay guys. We've had some hold ups with the house buying process, mostly due to the incompetence of a certain loan officer at a certain bank who shall remain nameless....long story short, it's being taken care of, and we should be cleared to close very soon. Cross your fingers and toes it goes smoothly (and that our hands don't fall off from signing millions of pieces of paper)!

And now for a little lighthearted fun poking fun at Brian. ;)

If you think the title of the post is part of an emerging ego trip on the part of yours truly, you're quite mistaken. It's more of a comparative analysis of the decorating skills of my husband and I, outlining the many reasons why I am the one in charge of decorating the house, not him.

A couple of recent examples:

1.) We got a new TV antenna for the house, mainly so we can watch Packer games without having to stand next to our old puny antenna for 3+ hours straight.

I expected it to be bigger, sure, but wasn't quite prepared for the monstrosity he brought home. Guys, this thing is HUGE. Brian set it up in our living room so we could watch the season opener and it took up almost the entire room. And our living room isn't all that small!!

See? Super obnoxious. I was almost afraid it would sprout legs, roar like a T-Rex and thunder after me trying to chomp on my legs or something.

Eeep.

If that wasn't bad enough, Brian suggested we hang the antennae from the ceiling in the living room, having it be both functional as well as something of an art installation piece.

Yeah, um...no. That thing is going up in the attic where it belongs, dear.



2.) Remember when we finally painted our front door? Well, we have a ton of paint leftover from that, so Brian brought up the idea to - get this - paint our window blinds the same color.

....seriously. Seriously??!! I mean, where does he come up with this stuff?!?!?! Here's an idea of how it would look, using the magic of Photoshop.

No, honey, that's not an attractive look - even if it is a poor Photoshop job. Unless you're Liberace. Or May from The Secret Life of Bees. Actually, it looks a bit like a pink nightmare - something little Ralphie is very familiar with.

I feel ya, kid.

Source

So yeah - there is very good reason why I am the one in charge of making things pretty at our house. He definitely comes in handy if I need something built, attached or fixed, though. He should stick to that and leave the design to me. ;)

Anyone else's significant other think they're a much better designer than they actually are? Or let them actually decorate something and watch it go horribly wrong?


*If you make a purchase through a link on this site, I will receive a small commission.*

Five Years

Five years ago, I said "I Do" to this guy.

In that time, we've:

• Moved across state lines.
• Obtained a Master's degree (well, technically Brian accomplished this one).
• Learned photography (that was me!).
• Added a chipmunk-cheeked baby to our family.
• Said goodbye to a furry member of our family.
• Started this little spot on the web.
• (Almost!) Bought a house.

I'm not going to lie - it hasn't always been sunshine and roses and posies for us. But, at the end of the day, there's no one else I'd want by my side while riding along on this crazy roller coaster of life. 

Happy anniversary to the best husband and baby daddy a gal can ask for.

:)

*pant pant pant*

Wow.

Just....wow.

Cleaning is hard work. My oh my. Wow.

Source

Remember how I mentioned we had an appraisal scheduled this week? We essentially spent the entire weekend killing ourselves cleaning and preparing the house. It was a marathon session of organizing the office (which I'm hoping to finally reveal either this week or next!), cleaning up the basement, and eliminating clutter overall. We worked our pitooties off, and the results were pretty damn impressive if I do say so myself. We corralled a few of our pals to help us out, which I think made all the difference.

Still - on Sunday night, we pretty much looked like this. Please excuse this very poor excuse for a selfie, I was exhausted and about to collapse into a heap on the kitchen floor. Be grateful I was in an upright position.

Now all we can do is wait for the results. Here's hoping the house is appraised at or near the value we're expecting it to be!

I'll be back on Friday with a meatier post - scout's honor. In the meantime, I'm taking a nap. And maybe looking up a cleaning lady so I don't put myself through this again anytime soon.

Cha-Cha-Changes

You've probably been asking yourself: Laura, where are all of the projects you've been talking about doing? Why are you so busy? Girl, what is going on?

Or maybe you haven't. And that's cool too.

Here are my explanations. And before you get too excited, no, I'm not pregnant.

1. I got offered a new job!!!!
Yes, the extra exclamation points are necessary. I have been job hunting for awhile (which, with a toddler and a full time job, was hard work!!), and was finally offered a position that is more or less in line with what I want to do. The real selling point? When I mentioned the fact that I am a mom and have a life outside of work that I need to keep chugging along, they didn't back away - in fact, they embraced it, which is quite telling of what kind of company they are. Though work is important to me, family ranks #1 on my list of priorities, and as such was an important factor in whether or not I accepted any job offer. Unfortunately the commute is about the same (actually, about 5-10 minutes longer, booooooooooooo) but I'm looking at it as a built-in opportunity to exercise. Training for a 5K, here we come!!

2. We are buying a house!!
Yep, we finally decided to take the plunge! Only here's the twist: we're buying the house we're in right now. I must admit it's not our dream house, but it's the best of the options we've looked at and it's available at a fair price. And really, does anyone really ever get their dream home as their first house? My guess is a big fat no. Unless you're Richie Rich or someone ridiculous like that. Plus, this way we don't have to move, which is a HUGE plus because moving is a PITA. Also, the house we're in now provides a ton of blogging possibilities, which certainly doesn't hurt.

3. We got permission to paint the front door!
Finally! Yay! And I didn't even have to offer baked goods.

Source

However, since we are buying a house (see #2) we have an appraisal scheduled for Monday morning, which means the front door may have to wait in favor of some other projects (like finishing the office, cleaning the basement and garage, etc.). Brian originally scheduled it for yesterday morning, but with less than 24 hours notice and a lot of tweaking to do to make sure our house was in tip-top shape, I convinced him to reschedule it so we wouldn't be up all night killing ourselves.

Soooo yeah. That's what I've been up to. Lots of exciting things happening in the K Household lately! I'm hoping to share the final office redo next week, so stay tuned!

Some quotes to live by

I've realized that I have a very good gut intuition that I don't listen to nearly enough. I've decided recently to begin listening to it, and it's had some positive effects on my personal and professional lives.

I guess this is another way to say that I don't have a real update to share since I've been busy with other potential life-altering things going on, so I'll leave you with the following quotes, hoping that at least one of you lovely readers take it to heart.

Source

Source

Source

Fave Things Friday

*pant pant pant*

The last couple of weeks have been a little nutso. Work has picked up speed, I did summer hours so I could have last Friday off, I'm trying like heck to finish painting the office, Brian's being awesome at his job, and the most exciting news of all: Owen can now walk! He's not full-on walking yet in public places (for some odd reason, he gets shy and would rather crawl) but at home he's toddling all over the place.

With those things in mind, some of this week's faves have really helped my control my sanity.

Nordstrom.com
Since Owen's officially walking, it was high time to finally buy him shoes. I went to several stores to try some shoes on him to get an idea of what size he was, timing it carefully so he'd be at his most content. I found a pair of sneakers at Kohl's, but I really wanted a pair of closed-toed sandals for him to romp around him for the remainder of summer. Too bad every other freaking parent in the metro Chicago area had the same idea, because I couldn't find any in Owen's size unless I was willing to hightail it to Wisconsin.

Enter Nordstrom.com. Although I loooooooove them (and their fabulous shoe collection), normally I shy away from them unless I have a boatload of money because it's typically out of my budget. However, the shoes I wanted to get for Owen were not only cheaper than on the manufacturer's site, but they also had free shipping and free returns. Certainly a no brainer!

Valspar Sample Paints
These things are seriously awesomesauce. I've had to touch up some spots on the ceiling where I got a bit overzealous with the paint brush/roller, and only needed a little bit of paint to do the job. Enter Valspar Sample Paints, which are the cutest little darn tootin' containers of paint ever. For realz.

Ted's Montana Grill
Sometimes Brian and I get tired of cooking/scavenging for meals, and we just say "Screw it, let's go out." At the end of a particularly crazy day this past week, we decided to treat ourselves to Ted's. Their sangrias are to die for, and I totally love their half-pickled cucumbers. Plus, they had kid-friendly stuff for Owen to play with that weren't the usual crayons that he typically chews on. And their food is just awesomesauce. Sure, it's a bit pricey, but every once in awhile it's a nice treat.

Formula 10.0.6 Pores Be Clear Clarifying Mud Mask
Mud Masks used to be all the rage when I was a teenager. Often with my girlfriends we'd do a "spa night" (aka a sleepover) and one of the things we did before our "makeovers" was a mud mask. Since it's been rather humid and I've been a bit stressed lately, my skin has been acting up, so I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane and try out a mud mask again. I love the way this one didn't dry out my skin, but still clarified and cleaned it. If you're looking for a way to relive your teenage spa night gals, try this mud mask out!

Hand & Stone Massage
Did I mention that I've been stressed out? Well, another way I dealt with it was to get a much-needed massage. Since I apparently am incapable of just choosing one randomly, I scoured Yelp and Google+ reviews to find the best one near me that was affordable. Enter Hand & Stone Massage in Wheaton. Wow. $49.95 for your first one-hour massage?! Yes please!! And the massage was actually really good! I had the masseuse concentrate on my shoulders, since that's where I carry a lot of my tension and it worked wonders. Definitely tempted to go for their monthly plan, which is actually pretty reasonably priced. Hmmmmm..... ;)

Have a great weekend!

House hunting update

After my mini-meltdown post about how frustrated I/we are at finding the right home for our family, I received an outpouring of advice and well-wishes. Thank you all for your support while we're on this journey, it is much appreciated!

Since that post, we have taken a look at some other properties that were closer to the train and within a good school system, but there was always at least one deal-breaker. For instance, we saw a really cute older home in Lombard last week, but it didn't fit Brian. Literally - he kept hitting his head on the ceiling between floors or barely fit his body through the tiny door frames. Ahhhh the perils of having an extraordinarily tall hubby (he's 6'5"). Plus, the homes in these areas were almost always at the very upper-end of our price range, and we could get a lot more for our money elsewhere.

We did, however, see a house in the town we're currently living in - granted, it doesn't have a basement, but it has a TON of living area and ample storage, plus is in an older part of town which means bigger trees. It was built in the 70's and is in pretty decent shape - it can use some cosmetic fixes, but has some really great bones. Plus, it's closer to public transportation for me and still close enough to Brian's job.

The catch? There's a neighbor across the street that looks a bit shady, and the school system isn't that great. It's not terrible, it's just not as good as some of the other areas we've been looking at.

Basically, when we find the right house, here's how I'm hoping my attitude will be so I know it's the right one (albeit without the gun, because guns kind of scare me):

Source

So yeah, that's about where we are right now. Hopefully we'll have a positive update in the near future, but until then please keep throwing those good thoughts our way. :)

Slapped back down to Earth

The excitement of buying a house has officially worn off. My emotions on the matter have switched from ecstasy to frustration.

Source

Lemme tell ya: finding a house that fits all most of your requirements within your price range in the location you want is tough. Over the last couple of weekends we scheduled some showings and went on an open house spree in a couple of local suburbs that were closer to the train for me while still being within 20 minutes of Brian's office.

Some highlights:

• Saw an older home with two bedrooms and one bath. The first floor was beautiful - large, updated kitchen, larger living areas. However, the bedrooms were small, the bathroom was outdated, and Brian bumped his head on the ceiling on the staircase because it was too low. Not to mention the dungeon-esque basement and the extreme proximity to the train tracks (like, right in the backyard - waaaayyyyy too close for comfort). 
• Saw a ranch that was three bedrooms and two baths. It was nice enough - just small. Like, claustrophobia-inducing small. That, and it had a septic tank, which I've never been quite comfortable with. I know if you maintain it you won't have problems, but still...yuck-o.
• Saw an adorable cape cod with three bedrooms and two baths. Except the kitchen was tiny - no more than one person could fit in it at a time, which is a HUGE minus for us. That, and it had no garage.

So, you see where I'm getting at. Is it really so much to ask that a house be in the areas we're looking in have 2-3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a basement, and a garage within our price range (which really isn't all that low)? Are we reaching for the stars here? Apparently we are. Ridiculous.

I'm already exhausted. Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Someone please tell me there's a light at the end of this tunnel?

This shiznazz just got real

I feel like a toddler who is keeping a secret. As in, I'm literally bouncing up and down in my seat, covering my mouth, and giggling like a madwoman.

*drumroll*

We have been pre-approved for a mortgage!!

Here is a series of gifs to sum up my thoughts on the matter.

 Source

 Source

Source

You guys, this is a BIG. FREAKING. DEAL. After years (YEARS!!) of me being the breadwinner on a relatively humble PR salary, and Brian making poverty level wages as a graduate student - not to mention our student loan debt - we didn't think that we would be in this position so soon.

However, after the birth of our son, Brian in particular took a good, long, hard look at where he was going and did something very brave: admitted that his dreams and priorities had changed. Don't get me wrong, he's still going for his Ph.D. (for the time being at least) but he has decided to work full time as an engineer and extend his doctorate studies so we can improve our quality of life. Not necessarily financially (although his salary is a VAST improvement over what he was making as a grad student!) but definitely in terms of spending time with Owen and I. Being a graduate student is hard work, and those of you who have been there or have spouses/significant others who have gone through it can agree that it's a lifestyle that isn't necessarily family-friendly.

So now, with our powers money combined, we are now in a position where we can own a home. Dude. WE CAN OWN A FREAKING HOUSE. SQUEEEEEE!!

...can you tell I'm a little, insy-bitsy bit excited??

We got pre-approved for a ridiculous amount of money. Like, whoa. Which I guess we can conceivably afford, but then we'll be eating Ramen admiring our beautiful house with no furniture. And that's just dumb.

So, we're looking at houses that are a little more than half of what we got pre-approved for so we can maintain our quality of life. Plus, I'm not so sure I want to buy a pristine house right off the bat - I LOVE older homes and would be tickled pink at the opportunity to spruce one up.

So there you have it. Step one: complete. Now comes the difficult part: actually finding a home we can agree on. Within our price range.

This should be fun.

:)

P.S. - Since I'm still in the honeymoon period of "WEGOTAPPROVEDFORAFREAKINGMORTGAGE!!!", I'll save my tips for the pre-approval process for another post. Stay tuned!

Busy, busy, dreadfully busy...

If you're a parent, grandparent, guardian, babysitter, older brother/sister....you'll likely know what the title of this post is referring to. Good ol' Veggie Tales.

Seriously, though....things have been a little nutso in the House of K lately. This photo of Owen pretty much sums up how we've been faring.

I'm hoping this coming weekend will give me some time to finally get around to some projects that I've been meaning to accomplish. Which means that the next couple of weeks (should!!) have some awesomesauce blog posts. Keep an eye out, peeps. ;)

Since I haven't had time for projects lately, I thought this might be a good time to "share the love", so to speak. I have recently discovered and starting following a few other design blogs that serve as great inspiration (besides the awesomeness that is YHL), and honestly just all-around fun to read. Isn't that the point of a blog? To get some inspiration/useful information with a splash of fun?

Anyhow, here's a shortlist of ones you should totally check out. Happy blog hopping!

Making it Lovely
This one is more of an overall design blog, but I really like Nicole's style for both her home and fashion. She recently bought an absolutely beautiful Victorian home in Oak Park and is chronicling her life there refreshing the place.

Design Sponge
Again, this one is more of an overall design blog, but it really has a lot of great insights and inspiration. Like these switch plates....can you say swoon?!

Lemon Grove Blog
This one definitely has more of an emphasis on home renovation and design, and I love how they go through each step of their projects. They are certainly more ambitious than I in a lot of their projects (like scraping off wallpaper - they deserve a medal for that feat).

Centsational Girl
This one is great for DIY projects, and includes a pretty awesome IKEA hack of a dresser. Great source of design inspiration and DIY ideas.

HOUSE*TWEAKING
Another great one for DIY and design ideas. They have a clean, simple style that is just so pretty to look at over and over again.

Any other awesome blogs you'd recommend out there? Let's continue sharing the love!

Fave Things Friday

I haven't had much time to actually do much DIY-related projects, so I figured I'd share some of my recent faves on this audacious Friday.

Gone Girl

Source

After reading this page-turning thriller, I found that the title didn't really suit it. No, what it really should be called is "Messed Up S**t". Seriously. This stuff is messed up. I won't go into too much details so I don't ruin it for others, but essentially it's about a couple in a failing marriage and on their fifth anniversary the wife goes missing. It really makes you think about whether or not you really know the person you're married to.

Instant Mom

Source

I love "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", so I decided to check out Nia Vardalos' book about her journey to becoming an "Instant Mom". After trying IVF 13(!) times, she finally was able to adopt her daughter through the U.S. foster system. Part autobiography, part how-to adoption guide, this book swung between being hilariously funny to tear-jerking emotional.

Veronica Mars

Source

I've heard great things about this TV show and since it was free with Amazon Prime membership, I decided to check it out. It's safe to say that now I'm ridiculously addicted. It reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but instead of vampires or demons the bad guys are human beings. That, and a couple of guest stars on the show were also series regulars on Buffy (Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter).

No-Spill Straw Cups
Owen never quite took to a sippy cup, so we tried a straw and ever since he's been hooked. We love the Playtex straw cups because they don't spill (well, unless he shakes it up and down to "baptize" himself) and they're relatively easy to clean. I have to say that I'm super-stoked to (almost!) be out of the bottle phase of life. Viva la Straw Cup!

Cardboard Books
These are a LIFE SAVER for people with toddlers. My little guy loves to "read" (aka: flip through, stare at the pictures, and throw around) books in his crib, and the cardboard ones are safe for smaller hands and mouths. The Dr. Seuss mini-books are especially awesome because they're easier for tots to handle.

Owen: Year 1.

Wow, I can hardly believe Owen will be turning one this weekend. I still feel like I just gave birth to him! It's amazing how much he has grown and changed over the past year.

In celebration of my favorite little dude's first birthday, I wrote him a letter, mostly so I don't forget the little things that make him special at this age.

Enjoy. :)

---------

Dear Owen,

Holy cow, you're ONE-YEAR-OLD!! The big 0-1, kiddo. You've come a long way, baby.

I remember when you were born - you had white blond hair and translucent grey eyes. Even though you were a fairly solid sleeper from the start (you know, for a newborn) those early days were rough. I was convinced that you would just cry, eat, sleep, poop and never smile forever at that point.

Just when I had about enough, after a month you FINALLY gave me the first of many, many, MANY gummy grins.  I'm not sure if you were just born happy and just wasn't able to express it at first, but you became the biggest ham ever. Seriously - it's gotten to the point where if I try to take any candid photos of you, you immediately turn to the camera and give me a big cheesy smile. Heck, you'd be crying and I'd put a camera in front of you and you'd bust out a grin.

You've accomplished so many milestones over this past year, including rolling over, sitting up, crawling and pulling yourself up and cruising around. You're also babbling up a storm - no actual words yet, but we're pretty sure that "BA-BA" means bottle and "MA-MA" means....well, I'm hoping it means me, but knowing you it might very well mean "MORE MORE!"

Speaking of BA-BA and MA-MA...did I mention you LOVE food?! Because you do! Starting solids was one of the highlights of your life so far. I guess with two parents who are foodies I shouldn't really be surprised. You'll eat pretty much anything - except for mashed potatoes, which puzzles the heck out of us. Considering you'll eat just about anything else without much of a fuss, we'll let it slide.

Some other highlights (good and bad):

• Teething - those teeth just keep on coming in, don't they?  Thank God for frozen teething rings and Infant Tylenol/Advil.
• Watching your eyes turn blue - I still cannot believe they didn't turn brown like mine. Dominant brown-eyed genes my pitootie! (fyi: I have brown eyes, my husband has blue eyes)
• "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" - I don't know why this song resonates with you so much, but for some odd reason it's one of the only things that calms you down when you're crabby. If I had a dollar for every time I sang this to you, I would be a very, very rich woman.

Did I mention how incredibly awesome your dad has been over this past year?! When I was so upset over you not sleeping and/or cluster feeding in the early days, along with other challenges you've presented us with so far, he's been a rock and a shining example of how to be a good parent. Me? I've still got some learning/adjusting to do (that's right, mommies aren't perfect, no matter what we lead you to believe!) but with him by my side I'm confident we can raise you up right.

So, on this most audacious of days that you probably won't remember, I wish you very happy birthday. I'm so, so, SO happy and proud to be your MA-MA.

Happy birthday kiddo. :)

Love,
Mom

"A Plague Upon Your Houses!!!"

This week has not been friendly to my immune system. So I'm taking a very temporary hiatus from blogging to exchange my immune system for a better one. I'll be back next week!

In the meantime, douse yourself in hand sanitizer. Save yourselves!!!!

Source

It's so hard to say goodbye...

Wow, I didn’t think I would have to get so personal on this blog so quickly. But life happens, whether you want it to or not.

Some of you may know that one of our cats, Sokka, was diagnosed with diabetes early last year while I was pregnant with Owen. After the diagnosis, we dutifully gave him insulin shots and put him on a special diet. We also brought him into the vet regularly to get his glucose levels checked. We eventually lowered his dosage and our vet at the time recommended he got off insulin since the diet change was apparently the solution.

Fast forward a few months – I gave birth to Owen, moved to the suburbs, and returned to work after maternity leave. It was a few weeks after I started back at work that we noticed something was wrong with Sokka. He got scarily skinny and refused to eat or drink anything. When Brian found him in a pool of his own urine, he rushed him to the vet – it turned out his glucose levels were sky-high and he was severely dehydrated.

The vet literally saved his life, and told us that we needed to give Sokka insulin again. So, we started doing so, and at first he seemed like he was getting better….but over the next few months, it was apparent that he really wasn’t. His back legs became weak, so he couldn’t jump and play like he used to. He rarely snuggled with us anymore, and became very anxious and unhappy.

This all came to a head this past weekend, when we noticed the same signs he was exhibiting before when the vet needed to save his life – he refused to eat or drink much of anything and was very lethargic. We suspected hypoglycemia so we gave him karo syrup (he’s gone through an episode before so we were familiar with the symptoms and how to treat it) but he didn’t get any better.

Because his quality of life had rapidly gone downhill despite our efforts, and the fact that the semi-frequent vet visits stressed him out greatly, we made the difficult decision to put him to sleep. He was no longer the jovial, silly cat we had grown to love, and no amount of insulin, special diet cat food, glucose checks and vet visits at that point would change it for the better.

He will always be my little dopey Boo Monster, and I miss him so much. I hope he has a blast romping through the fields and catching squirrels in kitty heaven. 

Or, at the very least, batting at them playfully.

I like cookies. But not cookie-cutter homes.

I've always loved old houses because of their inherent character. I consider myself fortunate that I was able to reside in such a house while living in Milwaukee many years ago. It was 100-years-old, in a really cute neighborhood, and was three blocks away from Lake Michigan. What's not to love?

It didn't last though - just nine short months after living in my dream home, we had to pack up and move first to Ohio, then to Chicago so my husband could further his education. Since then, I've had to suffer through a string of what I like to call the "Cookie-Cutters" - as in, apartments and homes that have zero built-in character. It drove me absolutely nuts, particularly since my design budget was near zero since we were living on my income (grad schools don't pay students well, fyi) so I really couldn't do much about it.

Times have changed, yet I find myself living in yet another cookie-cutter style dwelling - in fact, it's the very definition of a cookie-cutter suburban model home. Although I consider myself lucky that I live in a nice house with an attached garage and a sizable yard (thanks to my generous parents who own the place and rent it to me at a super-affordable rate), I frequently find myself frustrated by the house's "Plain Jane" syndrome.

My husband and I have already started putting our mark on the place, but it's nowhere near where we want it to be. Hence this blog. Because, apparently when I post home improvement photos to Facebook they get more likes than cute photos of my son, which means at least some of you are interested in reading about my home improvement and design escapades.

So, let's get out the glue gun and hammer and get started!