be the carpet so humble, there is no place like home

tomorrow is the day we buy our house!

this is a good problem, right?

we went into our house today (well, closing is on friday, so it is not 'ours' yet technically) and got some measurements from a couple rooms where we want to replace the carpet. the laundry room has carpet and we are going to try and replace it with vinyl, ourselves! yup, we are going to give a little 'do-it-yourself' remodeling a try. we are also going to replace flooring in two small bathrooms (they have carpet [as ernest p. wherl would say 'eh-hewwwww'].

i did a quick measurement in our room and it is about 15 feet by 13.6 feet (i know, amazing!). the problem is, the room is too big for a remnant piece of carpet. (to do this ourselves we are looking for remnants, which as a rule are no wider than 12 feet...so we will not be able to do this room on our own).

so, the room is too big...bummer.

that is a good problem, right? :P

this is a pic of Sydney's room...check out the carpet, is that not the most psychedelically awesome carpet ever! i love it

rock and...

ROLL!!!

GO ELIJAH!

laugh or cry

did you ever have one of those days where one 'last straw' event feels like the end of the world? something just so odd/annoying that you have to either laugh or cry?

I had that moment yesterday...

I call it
Circle of Melted Life



I had to laugh...if I had cried, this would have been called Bleeping Microwave with Cheesey Stupidity . . . and that would not go over well.

Cloth Diapers - the sewing phase

(lots of pictures below)i mentioned earlier that we are looking into cloth diapering once we move to our house. it is mostly a financial decision (80+ bucks every month or so in diapers...and that is buying in bulk from sam's club!). but, i must admit, i like the opportunity to buy something! we've been buying only the essentials for a while now because of the house, so it was like an adventure to go and hunt down the perfect fabric for cloth diapers. yes, that is right. not only are we going to try cloth diapering, i am going to be making them. i bought a few diapers from a store in Menominee Falls, just to get an idea on the fabrics and make of the diaper, but the rest, my mom and i are making.



(if you haven't ever seen a 'modern' cloth diaper, google cloth diapers sometime...it is pretty amazing. brands like gdiapers, bumgenius, fuzzibunz [yes, fuzzibunz] and even a brand called happy heinys are among the more common brands, but there are hundreds out there)

Anyway, cloth diapers cost anywhere from 18-28 dollars each (not per dozen, each), so i quickly realized that getting what i needed for two kids up front was going to be a challenge. (cloth diapering is still cheaper in the long run, just more money up front). hence, the making it myself idea.
i went to salvation army family store and for the price of one Kissaluvs All In One Diaper ($22.95) i got two flannel sheets, a Nautica bath towel, 5 t-shirts, a hospital bed pad, a floor mat, and a windbreaker jacket...out of which (plus a flannel sheet set i already had and one from my mom) we were able to make about 18 medium diapers for Elijah, 16 large diapers for Sydney, 3 diaper covers for Elijah, 4 diaper covers for Sydney, a large stack of inserts and a pile of cloth wipes. all for about 30 bucks when you include the elastic from WalMart.

I SO ROCK!!! and SO DOES MY MOM!!! (i did the cutting and she did the sewing)

front, back and then the cover of a Sydney diaper - made out of a junior's tee shirt

front and back of a tee-shirt diaper for Elijah, complete with army tank to carry his loads :P


this windbreaker will become 3 or so covers for Elijah's diapers

Here are some of the diapers made out of flannel sheets:

ducks for Elijah and flowers and purple stripes for Sydney

this pattern is called the Quick Snap Flap Wrap

(no, i did not come up with the name, but i love the concept)

when the pattern is cut, it uses only 2 (or you could use 3) layers of fabric (which means it washes out better and drys faster when you clean), but when it is folded up, it becomes 6 layers for better absorbency.

lay it flat, place an insert (for additional absorbency) in the center

fold the right side, fold the left side, place the baby

hold together with a little thing called a snappi, you could use a pin, but i don't feel like poking the babies, or more likely, myself!!

here is a cover, with waterproof interior from the hospital bed pad

that goes on top of the diaper, secures with Velcro and ter-done! (as Sydney would say)

these, along with about 8 diapers i bought from the baby store, and another 10 i bought off eBay (still have not arrived, they are coming from China!), i think i have enough diapers for both kids for the rest of their diapering days, all for around $100 total. (not bad considering Sydney is absolutely refusing to be potty trained and Elijah still has a solid two years of diapering ahead of him).

our christmas tree

I love decorating for Christmas. Every year, my mom and I would decorate the tree and house on the day after thanksgiving. Somehow, over the years my brother and sister worked their way out of helping, and I think my dad would go take a nap; so it was just the two of us. Having 'my own tree' these last few years with Wayne has been exciting as I pick out the ornaments and lights to try and make a decorating sceme for our tree. (yes, one's tree needs a decorating plan! last year I bought pink and purple lights on clearance after halloween and made my own tree skirt so that our tree is way cool with pink, purple and lime green colors on it).

anyway, since we are at the apartment and dont have room for a big tree (not to mention, putting up a tree and then taking it down to put back up again does not sound like much fun), we put up our little 'charlie brown' christmas tree.

Yes, this is literally the "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree...I got it last year at ShopKo. I think it is so awesome....especially since we don't have the big one up. Although, I wish I had some christmas lights up...it is a little sad without the lights.

(yes, if you look closely, there are ants on the 'tree skirt'. it is actually a homemade table cloth with ants on one side and hot dogs on the other side.)

Thanksgiving - Nov. 26

The Cook

The Food - there was no way we were going to attempt a turkey dinner after just moving...I don't even think we have a pan here to put the turkey on and even if we did, I know all our tupperware/leftover-holders are back at my parents house waiting the big move to our new house. For now, we are in an apartment waiting for our house to close.

breakfast bagels...yum

3 months old - Nov. 25

Elijah at 3 Months

(i know, i know, i am so far behind because of the move...but better late than never)

house update

Well, the inspection went well last week. For a 1890 house, it has held up fabulously. Honestly, I was worried that there would be foundation issues or some other major problem, but no! There were just a few little deferred maintenance type items. Leaky kitchen sink, the electrical box still had a fuse instead of all breakers, and we found out one of the toilets was leaking when we went into the basement (not a major leak, just poorly installed, the flange and or maybe the gasket will need to be replaced). Those were the 'big' ones...items that qualify as a 'defect.'

get ready for some legal mumbo jumbo..."a defect is defined as a structural, mechanical or other condition that would have a significant adverse effect on the value of the Property; that would significantly impair the health or safely of future occupants of the Property; or that if not repaired, removed or replaced would significantly shorten or have a significant adverse effect on the expected normal life of the Property."

Yeah, so anyway, because these three things are a 'defect' we can ask the seller's to repair (cure, in real estate terms) at their expense prior to closing. Now, the seller is not obligated to accept our request that they repair the problems, but thankfully they did accept the terms! (actually, our realtor, Betty, told us that the seller's realtor was with the same agency. Betty said to us, "I told the other realtor that they will accept the request and fix those repairs." are you kidding me!?! go Betty!)

And, just yesterday our lender gave us a call...just needed one more thing (again :P ) and we may be able to close as early as next week!!! That would be awesome.
Hopefully we will hear today when we can close on the house.

dangerous curiousity

sdyney was emptying out the diaper bag, like she often does, and started playing with my keys. She went around sticking them at all the doorknobs in the apartment, even the bathroom and bedroom which have no keyholes. She goes into the bedroom and I hear her playing with the keys while I am filling out some paperwork in the living room. I hear the keys drop and an 'oh no.' I think to myself, great, she has probably dropped the keys on Elijah who was sleeping in the pack 'n play. She comes out, 'oh no,' she reiterates. Ok, I'm coming to rescue Elijah, I think. I glance in the crib, no keys. Then I think, oh, even better, she dropped them down into the radiator.
But, instead, Sydney points over to a wall, and my gut drops and I felt sick. The keys are laying below an eletrical outlet and the outlet has a black burn mark on it.
I grabbed Sydney up to see if she was ok. Other than being a little scared, she seemed ok. I called our clinic and got their advice (basically watch her behavior since there seemed to be no external damage) and thought of what could have happened over and over.
God knows I need my sassy little girl. I don't know what I would do without her.
My next response was to put an outlet cover on all the remaining outlets (her room was already covered up, but only a few in the rest of the apartment were).






Looking at the outlet later on, I realized that the burn mark was on the screwhead above the outlet. I don't know exactly what happened, but it seems like she was trying to turn the screw with my key and somehow that sparked. still a little freaked out.

out of the closet???

So, for the past two years we have been living in my parents basement (long story). It is finished off with a small kitchenette, large bedroom and a walk-in closet. Sydney has been sleeping in the walk-in closet; first in her crib then in her toddler bed since June. It has worked out well since she is small and we put most of our clothes in dressers.

Well, at the apartment, she has her own room. The other day I go to check on her during naptime (she is not used to sleeping with any amount of light [no windows in a closet] but there is a window with no curtain in her room) and I did not see her in her bed. After a second of where in the heck could she be?, I found her.

Of course, even Elijah has been sleeping in interesting locations. We had already packed up the crib the night before the move to the apartment, but he still needed to sleep somewhere. Ta-da! Computer chair.

home inspection

So, we just got back from our house inspection...and it went pretty good. There were a few little problems, most of which we had anticipated, but no major issues. Still, it adds up fast. I enjoyed watching HGTV at my parents house (a lot) and I was always amazed at these people who would inevitably buy a house that is over their budget, have some fixes that had to be done to the house and remodel the place too! We aren't that crazy/financially astute/ambitious/reckless...take your pick. :) Hopefully we will find out more from our realtor tomorrow about who pays for what and maybe narrow in on our closing date.
Praise the Lord! We are feeling pretty excited about this house, and can't believe how well everything is falling into place. It is almost too good to hope for, we fell truly blessed.

the move to the apartment

Ok, we are less than a month away from moving into our house (inspection on Monday, praying all goes well). But first we must move into an apartment so Wayne can start his new job and while we wait for the sale of the house to be complete. That move is tomorrow...and I am tired already. Moving twice is not fun...and I have not even done it yet!! There is a pile for the house (which is huge) and the cars are full with apartment stuff.
Sydney is handling it all pretty well, but today she was a little frustrated. Almost all her toys are packed up, there is a fun pile of boxes that she cannot touch, and she has about 5 teeth coming in all at once. poor girlie. Elijah, good little lump that he is, is pretty much oblivious...ohh to be 2 months old. :)
Well...we will not have internet for a while, not at the apartment and most likely not at the house for a while. The library has internet, so I hope to blog and check email every once in a while. So, for now, kwa herini (good bye all)!

the plan:
Nov. 21 move to apartment
Nov. 23 house inspection
Dec. 17 closing?
hopefully in house before christmas so we can have our parents over.

Cloth Diaper Give Away

I confess...we are contemplating cloth diapers! I've mentioned it on facebook before, but with all the expenses in life, cloth seems like it might be the way to go. (Anybody who has any experience can feel free to leave a comment, I would love your input).
For the moms of yester-year, the cloth diapers these days are super 'high-tech'. Super absorbant fabrics, durable velcro or snaps, and tons of cute patterns and styles are out there.
If you cloth diaper, or know someone who does, be sure to check out: www.clothdiaperblog.com for a chance to win free diapers. See their "Feed Your Stash" Friday posts.
I'm gonna look more into cloth diapering when we move next week. I'll keep you posted.

hanging with a cool bunch

So, I think we have filled something like 6+ large totes, 2 large suitcases, and about 22 banana boxes. ....and there is still more. yippy-skippy




here is a random picture i took of sydney and me at kaemi's birthday party. i love this little girl.