Sunday, March 29, 2009

Someone let their child wear this??

While browsing through my favorite Goodwill (the SUPER Goodwill, if you will) on Super Saturday (all clothes are 50% off) I stumbled upon this shirt and my jaw nearly hit the floor.

0328091741Yes, this is a CHILD’S t-shirt.  What are we bringing up our children to believe???  That money is the end all be all?  That it’s ok to be with a man (or woman) only for their money?  I guess it’s a good thing it was donated to Goodwill but I think it would have been better off burned.

I did happen to find a bunch of baby clothes, a few t-shirts for me, a funky duvet cover for our bed and a bunch of yarn.  Not sure what I’ll make yet but they were nice colors and only $.50 a ball so I’m sure it will be put to good use.

In other shopping news, while I was working (at the baby superstore) I was putting away some blankets and noticed that the ENTIRE collection designed by Amy Coe was 75% off!  If you haven’t seen her stuff, it’s kind of modern with lots of bright colors.  I don’t know why it was being clearanced, probably because they are discontinuing the bedding line maybe?  Anyway, I scooped up this bedding set:

amy coe Simply Swirl Velour Blanket - Blue - Amy Coe  - Babies"R"Us

You can’t really see the bedding but it’s white with brown circles on one side and brown with white circles on the other side.  The bumper is brown with white circles.  Up close it looks like this:

  amy coe Changing Station - Chocolate Swirl - Amy Coe  - Babies"R"Us

I also got 4 brown fabric covered storage bins.  All for $57!  I really wanted to make my own stuff but I couldn’t have made it for that cheap!  On the plus side, the set came with a comforter with a duvet cover so I could always make another cover if I wanted a little change.

My new plan for the nursery (you can read about my old plan here) will be yellow walls….something like this shade:

Photo: Yellow umbrella

I want to paint the crib either a shade of red like this:

 Photo: Taiwanese children with red umbrellas

Or a shade of turquoise like this:

I just love that shade of turquoise.  I found these pictures through a google image search and the last one was on a blog whose owner sold stuff on Etsy.  If they hadn’t already been sold, I might have scooped them up myself!

Even though I LOVE red, I’m thinking the turquoise will look better with the yellow and brown (from the bedding set).  It will be gender neutral and definitely NOT babyish but still cute (in my opinion anyway, which isn’t worth much).  I’m not big in to the whole pastel colors for babies.  Just not a huge fan.  Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a choice for colors outside of pastels when it comes to baby clothes.  I do have a couple of patterns for baby clothes but haven’t made anything yet.  When I do, you can be sure that it won’t be pastel.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Who needs an exterminator?

Since I have no children to write funny, heartwarming posts about I decided to share a story about my pets. I have two dogs, Beaker and Penny (Jack Russell Terriers) and two cats, Oscar and Blue. Oscar used to be an indoor only cat but over the past few years he's become accustomed to going outside as he pleases. About two years ago I adopted Blue from a rescue and spends all of his time outside. He doesn't like our dogs...at all.

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This is Blue. Doesn't he just look evil? He's not much of a people person. He wouldn't let me pet him for the longest time.

We used to live in the city (Baltimore) and like most cities, Baltimore has some serious city rats. We never had them in our house but if you were outside at night and stood still you could hear and sometimes see them running around the back alley. Penny (the little dog, mind you) went crazy for those rats. During our year and a half there she killed three of them (that we know of). And they were almost as big as her. Beaker on the other hand, was afraid of them.

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One of Penny's kills.

Since moving to the suburbs we don't see rats anymore. We have a new rodent. The Vole. It looks like a little mouse and lives underground leaving annoying tunnles under the grass. Penny must either smell or hear the little things under the ground and then she proceeds to dig up the tunnels.

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Said tunnel digging.

So far, she's not been able to catch one the little critters. Until this weekend. As I was turning off the light in the living room to go to bed, what did I see on the rug? Why, it was a dead vole. A little present from Penny to me. How sweet. At least it wasn't bloody and disemboweled like the rats were. Or like the ones that Blue usually leaves us.

Which brings us to today. Blue loves living here. He has plenty of places to go and hunt. When he's not hunting, he lounges on our front porch, pondering his next kill. I've seen him crunching on vole's heads (the skull makes an interesting crunching sound) before and have come across a dead one here and there. But today as I was walking outside to my car I noticed a something in the walkway. It was a vole. Well....half of one anyway.

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Not too gross. But if you looked at the other side...

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Now you can truly see that it's just a half. Poor thing. I guess Blue wasn't that hungry.

So, even though I don't have a funny poop story (at least not about my own kids but I do work with 12 two year olds so I do have funny poop stories) I do have funny half-vole stories.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Somewhat informed

The orientation/information session about foster care and foster-to-adopt care was tonight. A lot of the questions I had were answered but I still have more. Overall, I am still interested in pursuing it but I think Courtney is still hesitant about it. We need to sit down and discuss it to see if it is what we want to do.

In other, but similar news, I've been stocking up on baby stuff. Can I just say how much I LOVE Craigslist! I am bordering on obsessed. So far, I've bought a travel system for $65 (a Graco Quattro something or other...I just loved the pattern and the reviews just happened to be good...lol), a crib for $125 (converts to a toddler bed and then full size bed) and a moses basket for $15. I'll post pictures soon. I'm thinking about painting the crib. Something bold and bright like fire engine red or turqouise. Hmmmmmm.....we'll see. I also plan to make new covers for the pads in the moses basket. Once I decide on the bedding (which I plan to make) and the theme of the nursery, then I will figure out if I want to go through the trouble of painting the crib.

Since spring is kind of in the air, it seems that yard sale season has begun! I don't know about you but I love going to yard sales. Most of what I find is just junk but every once in awhile I find some keepers. This weekend I got a new soccer ball for my dog.
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He really loves his soccer ball.

Courtney is usually the one who plays soccer with him. But sometimes he doesn't want to play.
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Beaker doesn't care. He just wants to play soccer.
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When I got home with the new soccer ball, Courtney and both dogs were still in bed and Beaker was so excited to see his new toy, he flew out of bed to grab it and tried to run out the dog door with it but it didn't fit. Too funny.

His second love is his frisbee. He is partial to the ones from Old Navy.
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After an afternoon of frisbee, Beaker is exhausted.
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So is Penny. She doesn't really care about the frisbee, though. She just likes running after Beaker.
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I found some other random stuff but the soccer ball was the highlight. At least for Beaker.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

A stuck pig

That is what I feel like.

I have been spotting/bleeding since the end of January but it started getting heavy yesterday. So I'm thinking this means I've started my first post-miscarriage period. I've never been a heavy bleeder during my period so I was ill-equipped yesterday. I usually wear a regular tampon and have one heavier day. I was bleeding so much yesterday I went through one regular tampon in about an hour or so. I only had one more in my purse. I had to fashion a pad out of paper towels, toilet paper and a couple pieces of scotch tape. I felt like MacGuyver.

McGuyver Pictures, Images and Photos
Crisis averted.

Today, I was prepared. I had an arsenal of tampons, pads and pantyliners. My purse was a veritable smorgasbord of feminine products. I wasn't bleeding as much as yesterday but it was still heavier than normal. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I truly hope this is my period and that it is over soon. I wonder if there is a world record title for longest period ever. I think I might win it.

My husband and I have not had sex since Christmas. After we found out I was pregnant I was too excited and preoccupied to have any interest in sex. Then I started spotting and haven't stopped so therefore, no sex. I'd like to have sex again dammit.

Courtney is on board with the adoption through foster care idea. He still wants a biological child and we agreed to keep trying while we go through the process. On one condition. I am not temping/charting. I will keep track of my periods, but that is it. We will not time when we have sex. We will just do it when we feel like it. If we get pregnant, great. If we don't, that's ok too.

Since that is our plan, I still need to get better control of my blood sugar. Sigh.