I'm getting impatient!

Remember how I told everyone how cool Mad Men is?

Well, now you can add yourself to Sterling Cooper's payroll right here.

{chelsea}

{ryan}

It's not as awesome as the new season promises to be, but since that's still a month or so off, this will suffice.

Frustrated

Every once in awhile it seems that I can't be the sing-song happy I try to be...I say try because, let's face it, it's tough to always be positive! But I'm trying and I think that's what's most important.

But today I'm frustrated. And maybe frustrated isn't the right word, but it's what first popped into my mind and I'm sticking with it.

When I'm in this mood, everything that could be good is not. Every situation is tinged with sadness or anger or simply emotionally charged. And that's what I'm working with: being emotionally charged. The tiniest things are getting under my skin, grating on me slowly like sandpaper, rubbing back and forth and back and forth, making my feelings more raw. And then SNAP.

Of course, my husband gets the brunt of everything. He's here by my side 14-24 hours each day, also dealing with situations as they come and go, seemingly unscathed by this or that and putting up with my crap. But when it comes down to it, he's not unscathed, just coping better with the way he's tossed and pulled in every direction by the world, by me.

So what am I specifically frustrated with? Well, this for one. I went to the dr. and got a prescription of progesterone and now I'm having major issues and it's been just under 8 weeks. {YES! you read that right. I've been having to deal with Aunt Flo for 51 straight days now...ick!} If the progesterone doesn't work in the next week I'm going to have to go back to the dr., and without insurance it could be really expensive.

Also, my house. I'm a terrible housekeeper. Absolutely wretched, to be honest. I love a clean house and a clean everything, but getting it to that point? Well, I'd rather eat dirt. Okay, maybe not, but you get the picture.

To round out this rant of frustration and to prove that not all my blog posts are 'rosy' and 'nice' {even though I try to be... I really do!}, I feel terrible that I skipped church yesterday. This was also due to the above issue. Sigh...

I guess the silver lining is that I can apply for COBRA insurance ($240/mo for just me - before my insurance was $75/mo for both of us!) and go see the dr. again. I'm tempted to go back on birth control, but with the whole TTC issue, not the most appealing option.

Alright, back to regularly chipper postings soon. Love you all.

Baby Steps, huh...

I probably should have waited to post this until I have more stuff posted (and a better range of prices!) but I was just happy to finally get good pictures of a few items and have something listed.

What I'm talking about is my vintage garage sale outlet: Back To You Vintage.

As I'm cleaning up the garage and organizing for a joint yardsale this weekend, I'm sure I'll have much more added. And by the end of the week, that's a promise.

Posers

{Jack: Ugh! Let's blow this popsicle stand; I've got some fireworks to light off!
Callie: Popsicles? I'm listening...}

My nieces and nephew are cuter than your nieces and nephew...don't argue, cuz it's my blog and what I say goes.

{get your hands off me, po-po! You've got nothing on me...I'm innocent!}

Red and Aqua Baby Shower

Pictures in order from top to bottom:
1. Vinyl red bird purchased from etsy in set of 3 for $6 {i think} and banner made from triangles of printed scrapbook paper simply stapled to jumbo ric rac.

2. Welcome table. It also has a bird cage on it{which I didn't happen to get a picture of} to write notes and words of encouragement for the mom-to-be and stick in the bird cage. The HI alphabet was simply created in Microsoft Word and at the bottom it says "please leave a word of advice or encouragement for the mommy-to-be"

3. Vinyl lettering around the room

4.Tables: brown shipping paper for the table top with a simple runner out of an inexpensive red/white stripe cotton and scalloped on the edges. Centerpieces were Dollar Store buckets with floral foam {soaked overnight} and covered in sheet moss that I found at a florist. I cut branches from a tree that morning, stuck them in and attached a small nest from the hobby store. I added tiny pipecleaner chicks I found on clearance after Easter.

5. Placemats were aqua tissue paper, folded over, topped with red paper plates and napkins, all attached with a white clothespin. The plasticware sat on top of the napkin.

6. Chocolate suckers. I found a chocolate egg mold on ebay, then cut and sewed the white bird for each sucker. The paper is freezer paper so the chocolate didn't get the paper oily. Tied a simple red ric rac on each lolly stick.

7 & 8. Food table. MMMmm. Again, Dollar Store aqua buckets. My famous stuffed strawberries, red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting {so easy to make - frosting only took 5 min from start to finish}, chicken salad and egg salad to build your own sandwich with a choice of a soft deli roll or croissant. Chocolate dipped rice crispy treats. Sparkling lemonades in a few different flavors, tied with a blue/red/white striped piece of paper I whipped up and printed out, then simply put a dot of glue where the strip met. Same with the apple juice. They're a bit more rotund so they required gluing right onto the bottle. Red and white striped tissue paper and aqua tissue paper is from Nashville Wraps.


After such a cute invitation, I had to deliver with an equally cute party.

Here are a few of the pictures. I wish I would have gotten a few more. I don't think I really captured the cuteness Erin and I set up.

Also, the church building isn't the greatest backdrop. Had it not been so humid outside I would have considered something outdoors. Oh well, enjoy!

We played a trivia game that was much more difficult than I expected. The most answered correctly was 9! I have a pdf available if anyone else would like to use it. Leave a comment if it's not working...

Tomato BUSH

I planted a teeny tiny tomato plant (from walmart, you know, the $3 ones?) next to the fence a mere 3 months ago. When I planted it the bottom rung of the tomato cage was higher than the plant.

I really can't believe HOW many tomatoes I'm going to have to pick this year. Fresh salsa? bring it on.


And the same goes for the strawberry plants. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see the fruits of my labor (literally) but from what I've heard, they may not bear fruit until the second year.

What really amazes me is how many runners have been sent out! Look at all these little shoots. They've already set down roots and are expanding the number of strawberries (crossing my fingers) that I'll have for next year.


Who knew that the Kansas clay would have such great results, huh?

Bird in the Belfry

Amidst the crazy week of flooring, cleaning, flooring, more cleaning, baby shower planning, girl's camp planning, even more flooring, etc, we found a moment to laugh and have fun.

A little bird flew into the garage so we left the garage door open, giving him a chance to find his way out. Instead, he flew through the open door {Ryan was moving things in and out} leading from the garage to the laundry room and kitchen. If you remember, we have cathedral ceilings. You can guess what happened next. Yep, the little bird found his way upstairs and into the bedrooms.

I captured him nestled among the branches I have arranged next to one of the beds.

Did you miss him? Oh, here he is!

A quick-thinking screenfromwindow-dectomy later and we shooed the fancy flier to freedom.

hmmm, go figure.

My pants have been fitting a little better this week. I don't question this, I just smile in the moment and hope it lasts more than the day.

I stepped on the scale tonight, you know, just out of morbid curiosity. Had to do it again. And again. And a third and fourth time.

I've lost 10lbs since I lost my job. Appears that I was stress eating. Imagine that.

Progress

{my favorite part}

A Baby Shower {you're invited}

Erin and I are throwing a baby shower for Amber in the next couple of weeks and the theme is About to Hatch.

*first - a disclaimer. The camera I used wasn't my own and so the pictures didn't turn out as great as I would have hoped. It wasn't the camera, but the operator {that would be me} of said camera. That is all.*

{invites and labels}

These are the invitations we cooked up one afternoon.

{cupcake box and insert}

{see what I mean about the beaks? no continuity - only I care about it really, though}

I LOVE them. The only issue I had was with the little birdie beaks. I wish Martha Stewart's directions included how they did those with a LEAF tip. I know, right? I considered using confetti sprinkles but I didn't think ahead and find them locally. The other option I was going to use if this didn't work was tinted white chocolate, piped onto wax paper in the shape of triangles and stick them in that way. I still might, who knows.

{beak-less baby birds}

If you didn't receive one {and you're a local, of course}, I'm sorry! We'll have non-cupcake ones available this Sunday or you can just consider yourself invited. Get in touch with me if you need details.

I'll have pictures of the shower in a few weeks. I'm still working on stuff for it and then I have to hurry and get everything ready for girls' camp projects.

{on the inside}

{boxed and ready to go!}