Newell K. Whitney Store - Kirtland, Ohio . . .

It's proving a daunting task to sort through the 250 photos I took on our little 4 day vacation. How do I pick which ones to share when each one represents a new and fond memory? I must try!

We started our trip in Kirtland, Ohio - a city of historic significance to members of my faith. The kiddoes were very enthralled with the Newell K. Whitney Store. They love learning about history and were excited to see the types of items that would have been for sale in such a store during that period in history. Here are a few photos:

While much of the outside of the store has been refurbished, this door latch is original from the 1830's.

Knitting needles.

Quills and paper.

Bonnets {Hannie B's favorite}.

Crockery in the Bishop's Storehouse.

A game of checkers {RedDog's favorite}.

Saw Blades {Big C's favorite}.

I'll try to post several groups of photos as the day goes on, time permitting, of course, since it's Spring Break, Easter is in two days {still not ready} AND we have no milk, bread or eggs in the house.

The Hunt . . .

So Ollie is finally on the move. It is hilarious to watch his little gimpy beginner crawl. I could do it all day long. Maybe that's why I've been a bad little blogger. Or maybe I am knee deep in laundry from our weekend getaway and I don't want to face the ironing, the house cleaning and the fact that I've done not one thing to prepare for Easter. I think I'm going to go with the crawling one because it's happier.

Today I found Ollie in the family room doing this:

Just him peeking behind the curtains was cute enough to make me run grab the camera. I thought it might make a good 'Picture Of The Day' {don't know what I'm talking about? Click here}. But instead I caught a hunter and his prey on film.

Notice how the baby silently makes his move behind the curtain.

Suddenly, before anyone realizes what has happened, he is on the other side, headed for the corner behind the wingback chair. But what could he want there?

He lenthens his torso and reaches in for the strike, grabbing the round orange object that is the subject of his fancy.

The prey, in a desperate attempt to evade capture rolls just out of reach of the slobbering baby.  He is, however, as persistent as he is cute and will not be gentle if trifled with.

Another grab - another evasion.  This time the hunter uses an oft successful tactic:  the cornering manuever.  The prey is weak and cowering as it has nowhere to go.

The hunter shows his dominance over the weak prey by sitting erectly and shaking violently.

And then the hunter is discovered and begins to disarm his next victim by flashing a dazzling smile while wearing drool from the hunt on his leg.

 

Time To Fly . . .

We're off to see my sister for Spring Break.  A first for the Hubby and my kids to journey to her home.  A first road trip for my Ollie boy.  And a first for me as I am desperately and uncharacteristicly behind in getting ready.

Will be blogging in a sporadic fashion as I enjoy sibling time and play with my peeps.  Happy Spring to you!

The Hips Don't Lie . . .

For the first time in my life, I am the proud {?} owner of a bathroom scale.  When I was little, my parents had a scale like the doctor's office has - with the little notch that moves from pound to pound until the scale is balanced and you're staring at THE NUMBER.  I'm pretty sure we kids broke that scale.  And I haven't shared a home with a scale ever since.

It should be said that I could have used a scale during my freshman year of college, since I gained upwards of thirty pounds.  What?  I was dealing with a break-up and soft serve ice cream covered with orange soda seemed like a balanced breakfast!  Okay, it's not, but it sure tastes just like a creamcicle. 

I refused to have a scale in the house with each of my pregnancies.  It's enough to step on the scale in front of a nurse every month, then every two weeks, then every week, just watching the poundage add up, hoping that by removing my shoes I might have magically not gain five pounds.

But now, well now I have reached the point where I need to have a scale in my house. I am on the swift downward spiral to Forty.  I had a baby eight months ago and am rounding the corner to reclaiming my body from the nursing infant child. I am ready to be the controlling partner in my ever stormy relationship with food. And I am participating in a program developed by my sis-in-law that is going to help me be a healthier person in general.

These reasons are what brought me face to face with the shelf full of scales at my lovely local Target.  I stared and cowered. I almost turned and ran. The choices were overwhelming.  Do I buy the one that calculates body fat?  Heck no!  I'm just now ready to put a number on my weight - no body fat discussions allowed!  Do I buy the one with the robotic voice that says my weight out loud?  Heck no!  I don't want to HEAR it.  I just want to see it.  So I skip over all the scales priced $50 to $17.99 and go for none other than the scale pictured above at a mere $7.99.

My new scale and I came home together.  I followed the instructions, setting the scale on a level surface and aligning the tick mark with zero pounds when the scale was at rest.  Then I weighed myself - right there, fully clothed in the middle of the day. And I loved what that scale told me!  It said, "All your non-exercising has really paid off.  Way to go!"

When the Hubby came home I told him all about my new friend, the scale.  The Hubby went up to the bathroom, introduced himself, stepped on, and in one quick moment ruined my happy day.  "There is no way this scale is right," he said.  "Oh, yes, it is right," I replied a little too desperately.  But he assured me there was "no way he weighed less now than he did in high school".

The next day he weighed himself in the gym at his office on one of those doctor's scales.  He came home and broke it to me gently that our new scale was a mere ten pounds off.

And this, my friends, is why no one should ever own a scale.

A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

{image via Google images}

I have spent the day trying to wrap my brain around a way to simplify packing for our five day trip. No matter how I try, I am still face with six people's worth of stuff.  And the crazy part is that the infant child - he who is as tall as my shin bone - has more stuff than all of us combined.  I may or may not be taking as much luggage as you see in this picture.

Add in piano practice, baseball practice, quizzing for three tests, laundry folding, dinner prep, gift making, a dog bite, a school bully, a bulging tooth, a headachy mom and what do you get?

An unorganized 'organizer' blogging late at night and thinking in the back of her brain that it would sure be easier to just leave the kids and run off with the cute Hubby for five days.  Oh wait, we're doing that in October.

I'll get my act together folks.  It just might not be until I get back.

Repurposed . . .

Remember the fun circle garland I sewed up for the baby shower a few weeks ago? I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. I didn't know when I would have a need for it again and was sad at the thought of it tangled up in a drawer somewhere. So I decided to give it a new home.

It now resides over the baby's crib. He loves to sit and stare at it as it sways every so slightly above him. I often find him talking to it after a nap. Even though there are some florals in the patterns and the colors aren't an exact match for the boys room, I am happy I was able to 'upcycle' this project.


For refrence, I taped it directly to the ceiling. If I keep it there longer term, I may attach it to an embroidery hoop somehow for more longevity.

The rest of this room and the rest of my house, for that matter, are a disaster. We are preparing to take a little Spring Break trip {more on that later}. We are preparing to have some construction work done in the house {more on that later}. We are preparing for Easter {more on that later, too}. And I am preparing for a mental breakdown - but what's new?

Join me tomorrow for a trip simplification tip.

Achoo! {scratch, scratch}

Winter is gone

and in its place a welcomed friend named Spring.

Here are the signs:

Birds building nests

A bud breaking through the ground

Children joyfully at play

And my itchy, red, swollen, watery eyes.

Welcomed friend named Spring?

ps.  Allergies are the worst.

Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner . . .

This is not a flattering or cute picture of the infant son.  Unfortunately, this is our current reality.  And that look on his face, well, I'm seeing an awful lot of it.

You see, my boy is trying ever so hard to crawl and for some odd reason, he can only manage to go backwards. It usually goes something like this:
 
Ollie sees desirable item. 
*
Ollie assumes normal baby crawling position.
*
Ollie raises himself into plank position {it's yoga, baby}.
*
Ollie sits back up, only now he's about three inches back from where he started.
*
Ollie continues this torturous system until he looks up to see how close he is to desirable item and realizes it is now a mere speck on the horizon.
*
Ollie makes the face in the picture.
*
Ollie begins crying.

Occasionally Ollie will back himself into some tiny crevice of the family room.  I've found him halfway under the couch, behind the armoir doors, under the coffee table and in the corner pictured.

I continue to put him through baby boot camp, where I move his legs and arms in synch with the proper crawling technique. We do this multiple times a day.  He giggles and smiles.  I think he understands.  I put out a desirable object.  And he's backwards boy all over again.

Usually I am in no rush to have a mobile baby.  It means lots of things, including baby proofing for real and the end of the legos for awhile.  But right now, after three weeks of backwards boy, I am done with that face and the crying. 

Would anybody like to volunteer to come and be Ollie's crawling coach?

Plank You, Plank You Very Much.

DIY Cute Packaging . . .

This is a package of my favorite chewing gum. Remember when gum used to come in flimsy foil packaging that would fall apart in your purse? No more! I love the little box this Orbit gum comes in. I love it so much I decided to deconstruct it and copy it as a box for the Mommy Calling Cards winner. Here's how I did it:

1. Take all the gum out and let all the kids have a piece so they'll leave you alone. Carefully, so no tearing occurs, undo the box's lightly glued construction.

 

2. Trace the outline of the box on sturdy weight, lovely-to-look-at cardstock.

3. Using sharp scissors, cut out along the tracing lines.

4.  Using the scoring blade of a paper cutter {if your not in the know:  a scoring blade has a dull edge that puts a score line in paper, making it perfect for folding} mimic all of the folds from the original wrapper.

5.  Fold all of the score lines

Your box should now resemble the gum box.

7.  Using an exacto knife or razor blade, cut a slit in the box for tucking the tab in.  Rememer to do this on a piece of cardboard or self healing cutting mat, as shown below.

8.  Apply glue {I used regular old glue stick} to the side tabs of the box.

9.  Fold box together, holding glued points in place with paperclips.  It helps if you have cute paperclips that match your cardstock. Kidding.  Let dry.

I put the calling cards in, tucked the tab into its slot and affixed a label and letter 'G' for the winner's last name. I love how this turned out!  I will be keeping my deconstructed gum box in my craft supplies for further use.  And now I'm on the hunt for other commercial product packaging that I can remake or copy.

Of course, it looked even better when I tied it up with spring ribbon, put it in a box with some delicious chocolate and paper flowers and topped the whole thing off with dragonflies! Who wouldn't want to open a spring filled package like this?

And Amber would be proud . . . it was less than 13 ounces {you must check out her flickr gallery!}.

 

A Simpler Life In 2010 . . .

Wanna know something that complicates my life? People ringing the doorbell or banging on the door when my baby is napping. His room is right over the foyer, so he hears it all. My boy needs his sleep. This momma needs the boy to need his sleep so the momma can stay sane.

I can't really blame anyone who comes to the door loudly if they don't know there's a baby napping, so I decided it was time to let them know. I took a picture of sweet Ollie sleeping and whipped it out on the computer with a little "Please Knock Quietly" around it. Then I laminated the whole thing to withstand the weather {more on my love of my laminator in a later post}. Now when Ollie goes down for his nap, I just grab my dragonfly magnet and put his picture on the door. It has made my life, and his naps, so much better!

While I'm at the front door and talking about messages, see that little "No Soliciting" in the window? I ordered some of that peel and stick vinyl lettering and we have not been bothered by solicitors ever since. I'm not mean, just really uncomfortable with being confronted by strangers at my door pressuring me to buy stuff.

Now I need to get to work on freshening up my Spring wreath. I couldn't even show you the whole door today due to its nakedness.

How about you, dear readers, what's happening on your front door?