Baby Update: 37 weeks

Well, here we are, three weeks from the designated D-day! I thought this would be an appropriate time to get around to posting these baby room photos that I took even before our trip to Iowa in July... I apologize for the low photos quality... I just took them quick so that I'd have something to show people in Iowa, to give an idea of how the room was shaping up.

The above photo was taken from the door to Scott's and my room. There are two finished rooms in the basement, plus a full bath, and they will be the sleeping quarters for all three of us.

This photo is from the corner with the window, and the door to Scott's and my room is on the left, and the door to the bathroom is on the right. Behind the open door is a closet.

Here's my crib project, with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I'm really happy with how the color turned out, as pink as it looks in the can, and the light and dark wax turned out well, except it still remains a little tacky... not really sticky, but not really smooth. I'm curious to see how it wears over time.

I lined the drawer beneath the mattress with kitchen liner - not the sticky kind. I was glad to find something I could just cut to size and lay in there, without having the permanance of contact paper.

This little toddler chair came from my mom, along with an even tinier chair to match. The tiny chair I now use for a little cowboy teddy bear on the bookshelf.

There's the tiny chair, when it was in the corner, next to the saddle from Uncle Bob.

I'm really happy with the dresser stain project. Last night I finally purchased the drawer pulls for it and for the armoire - I've been waiting three weeks for them to go 50 percent at Hobby Lobby. Have you looked at Hobby Lobby's drawer pulls lately? They have a great selection of all types.

This is the box my little Western hankies came in. The box itself is pretty adorable. :-)

And here are just a few of the hankies... I haven't done anything with them yet. Still debating all my options...

The dresser and armoire also got lining for their drawers - this time a blue pattern.

I've been collecting enamelware for the room, to use for storage, decoration, etc. Little did I know these enamelware canisters I bought in Pendleton last September would fit in so well!! Or what I'd end up using them for. :-) The lovely C} wood piece is a gift from Emily in Missouri - she made it and stained it for me, and I love it.

This is my old camp coffee pot... It was a cheapy from Walmart, and the little 'glass' knob on top of the lid melted one morning as the coffee was simmering, so I removed the lid, kept the pretty red pot, and will use it for something, if only decoration.

My mom has done a great job collecting things for the baby room - these books are just another small part of the things she's found for Baby Martinez. They're all Western cowboy books, so they fit perfectly with the theme.

This is the view from the baby room window...

So that's what the baby room looked like in mid-July. Since returning from the Iowa trip I've worked on putting away baby gifts from the Iowa baby shower and have washed and put away most of the clothes in the dresser and armoire. More pictures to come, as soon as I get the room to a more put-back-together state. Right now I'm working on a slipcover for the rocker, and after that will come curtains. Those pink sheers just have to go soon. I'm tired of looking at them in pictures!

Weekend: Checking Off the To-Do List

This weekend was a good one for finishing and starting on projects around the house. It included finishing the binding on the baby quilt, starting the slipcover project pictured above, grocery shopping, a trip to Pathfinder Ranch for Pathfinder Days and a night spent at the Association, watering the whole yard, cleaning up some spent potted plants (it hasn't been a good year for me and flowers), exchanging our blueray player (this is our third one. maybe the charm?) and spending 30 minutes on the phone with an Indian man to figure out how to get it to connect to our router, taking a couple naps, cleaning both bathrooms, vacuuming, and lots more things along those lines...

I was going to do some riding with the menfolk Sunday up at the ranch, but turns out their Saturday cow-moving task turned into two days, so I skipped out, as I didn't know for sure how long Sunday's portion would take, and I didn't want to ride more than a couple hours. Instead, I woke up with them at 4, had breakfast and headed into town, where cat Link and I got all kinds of things done.

I also worked quite a bit on sorting and folding the baby laundry and getting it organized in the armoire, along with the other baby supplies I have, like toys, feeding essentials, diapers, etc. The drawer pulls I want at Hobby Lobby still haven't gone on sale, so opening the drawers on the dresser/changing table is still a trick. :-)

This is the baby quilt - the blocks of red and green fabric are parts of the table runners I used at our wedding party in May.

And I used dropcloth canvas for the backing.

Yesterday I started on the puzzle that is cutting pieces for a slipcover for my rocking chair. This is the first try ever at a slipcover, so we'll see if it ends up fitting the chair, with no glaring mistakes. I thought about piping the edges, but then decided to keep it simple...

I didn't get much farther than this yesterday - I did get these pieces all pinned together and started stitching, but then headed over to publisher Dennis's house to pick raspberries and never went back to this project yesterday evening - I wrote all my thank-you notes for the baby gifts from Iowa, instead. I have yet to cut out the rest of the pieces. The chair is sitting up on 2x4's because I'd like to cut some blocks to raise the chair up a couple inches - right now it's kind of a low-rider.

So, a few more things were finished, or at least started, over the weekend. Just a few short weeks until baby gets here!

Priorities: To Sleep or to Clean?

As usual, things are very busy in my part of the world, between looking after my responsibilities at the Roundup, preparing for the baby (only eight weeks to go!) and all the other day-to-day activities that I used to have plenty of time for...

The above photo was taken while we were on the late-June tour of the Fieldgrove Ranch near Buffalo. Liz of the Wyoming Stock Growers was kind enough to send it to me yesterday, and it shows my baby bump as of week 30 of pregnancy... since then I've gotten a little bigger, but I'm still not all that huge.

Since crossing the 'two months left' point, I've tried to kick it into gear with getting projects done, but it's still slow going. Because I've had baby classes the last two evenings this week, I still haven't had time to put the wax on the furniture that's outside. I'm looking forward to the point when we can move it downstairs, and I can actually start putting the baby room together. Right now it's still pretty much in disarray.

Yesterday I did make it to the fabric store here in town to make my selections before the 50 percent off sale came to an end. I chose these six fabrics, and have plenty of yards, so this should take care of whatever I dream up - or have time - to sew. I'd for sure like to do a couple fitted crib sheets, curtains, changing pad covers, a cushion for a small rocking chair that my mother-in-law gave me, some burp cloths and maybe a few other things if I get to the end of that list...

This week at the Roundup, in addition to having a short week because of the holiday on Monday, we're working on our State Fair Edition. So far, so good, as I have good help and everything is coming together nicely.

So, with my never-ending to-do list on my mind, I sat on the couch this morning eating my cereal after Scott left for work at 5:45, debating whether I'd get some more sleep or clean on the house. The to-do list won out, and I ended up sweeping and scrubbing the kitchen floor, basement stairs and basement floor before coming to work. I figure, that way, tonight I can go to work on the furniture projects and not worry about cleaning. So here I sit, a little sleepy, but working on getting the regular weekly and special edition articles done today. Wish me luck!

A Projecting Holiday

On July 4, the fourth day of our long weekend, I buckled down and didn't do anything but work on my changing table dresser and crib projects.

First up on the to-do list was to sand the dresser down. My mom brought it out from Iowa when they were here at the end of May, and it's had water damage on it for a while - ever since we lived in the 'South Farmhouse' right after moving back to Iowa from Georgia.

Thanks to a power sander borrowed from Jody, and some excellent sandpaper from Menards, it really didn't take all that long to get it sanded down to the raw wood.

Lucy is my sanding dog, except she needed a dust mask, too, because she kept sneezing.

Lucy is very proud of our handiwork - all done and ready to stain!

I used the same Minwax 'Dark Walnut' stain that I've used on other house projects, including the set of five six-foot shelves we have in our bedroom now for hats, boots and jeans. It's a great color, and I have a whole gallon, so all the wood furniture in the house might gradually turn dark brown. :-)

Although the staining is all done, the dresser is still outside, awaiting a coat of wax to seal it. I'm very pleased with how it looks so far. I plan to stop in at Hobby Lobby and get some new drawer pulls for it - they have a pretty good selection these days.

Once the dresser was done, Foxy and I moved on to the crib-painting project, which has been waiting for three or four weekends now.

When I first started painting the drawer that fits below the crib mattress, the raspberry red color had me a little concerned.

(I didn't worry about taping off the white laminate drawer bottoms, because I plan to line them, anyway, along with the shelves and drawers in the changing table dresser and the armoire.)

However, I felt better after it started drying to more of the barn red that I was after.

It took me a while to get all the slats painted, and to make sure that all angles were covered. Things went a little better after I switched to a finer-bristled brush that didn't leave as big of brush strokes.

I finished it up at 8 o'clock that evening, just in time to leave to watch the fireworks show. It's still sitting in the garage, too, waiting for its coat of wax. I didn't get to work on anything last night because I had my first 'baby school' class to go to - infant feeding. I figured taking those classes that hospitals offer prior to delivery can't hurt.

The chalk paint lived up to its claims to fame - I didn't have any trouble at all with it adhering to the shiny finish on the crib, and it only took one coat to get it covered. And, it does go a long way, because I didn't really skimp, and I still have over two-thirds of a quart left. What else can I paint red? :-)

I probably won't get around to the wax coat this evening, either, because it's the first session of the 'labor prep' class at the hospital. Maybe Thursday? This weekend we're branding out at Trav's so I probably won't have much time for baby or house projects...

The To-Do List

I have a problem of late - the problem is that, no matter how much time I spend working around the house, I never seem to get any closer to the end of my to-do list!

In the last week I've been getting up and working on cleaning and other tasks around the house for an hour or two before going to work, and then I spend three or four hours after work, also working on the same to-do list.

You'd think I'd be able to get more accomplished, wouldn't you?

Actually, last night and this morning I did pretty good. I had shampooed our bucking horse rug that I bought in Pendleton, and Scott and I put it back down in our tv area last night. It sure looks better, and feels better to know it's fresh and clean and aired out. It spent the day yesterday hanging over the porch railing in the sunshine.

Then I vacuumed the wood floors again. Seems like I spend a lot of time chasing furballs... or maybe I just need to vacuum more frequently!

I've also been watering the lawn in the last few days, which takes some time, but it's done for this week. That's the first I've watered it this summer, and I feel fortunate that I got away with waiting until the end of June. The last couple days have been very hot and dry, so I'm glad it got some water or it would have burned up.

Last night I also shredded a pork roast that I'd had cooking all day and made the sauce for pulled pork sandwiches for Saturday's picnic on our driving trip in the Buzzard Ranch/Seminoe Reservoir area.

I also made a double batch of Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookies, which I'm going to decorate after the fashion of the latest Martha Stewart magazine cover - you've seen it if you've been in the supermarket checkout lane lately.

This morning I cleaned the upstairs bathroom and washed the floor, put away my sprinklers and hoses, picked up sticks from the yard after yesterday's windstorm, watered flower containers as needed, washed the kitchen floor and prepped the apricots for the Toasted Coconut Apricot Pie that I'll make tonight to take to Lander tomorrow.

I don't think I've every purchased fresh apricots before. I was pleased with how well the pits came out. I've been having trouble with peach pits lately.

Aren't they so pretty and summery?

Yesterday I also found some rhubarb at Albertson's for Rhubarb Strawberry Lattice Pie, which will also be for Saturday's picnic. I have an idea on that pie, that's different than making it in a conventional pie plate. It's essentially making individual star-shaped pie pockets with the pie filling inside, but we'll see how much time I feel like spending on it tonight, and whether or not I have a star cookie cutter... that would be a necessity, I guess.

Of course, whatever I do around the house, I always have two dedicated helpers. Last night Lucy slept outside our bedroom window on the concrete patio with her head on the windowsill all night long. Such a dedicated puppy.

As far as projects in the yard and garden, they're not going very far very fast. :-) Those zinnias at the top of the post are intended to go in this front flower bed, once I get it weeded and add the new topsoil. Scott made the border last weekend, and I really like how it turned out. My Carl Forster grass is doing ok.... the animals still like to eat it for a snack, so it is struggling somewhat.

The violas on the steps are doing well, though. By putting them on the left side they receive some shade from the railing during the harshest time of the day, and they seem to like it there. I'm trying not to kill them with overwatering, like I did to the few I had last summer.

I planted these perennials on the north side of the steps, since they're a part-shade plant. I forget what they're called at the moment. :-) They're just now starting to open up, and they're supposed to fill out to about 15-20 inches across. If they live through the winter, I think they'll be a nice thing to have in this long, narrow bed.

And another project for last night was the American flag we mounted from the front porch. I like how cheery it looks, and just in time for the 4th of July!

So that's just a little bit of what we've been up to - I thought I better put up a quick post to update my loyal readers who have been neglected lately. :-)

The chalk paint and the crib are still waiting patiently, as is the dresser that needs to be sanded and refinished for my changing table in the baby room. Those two things are at the top of my list, as soon as the other everyday cleaning/cooking/maintenance projects are caught up.

Weekend: Thrifting and House Projects

Foxy is my little plant-eater, so I try to keep pots up off the ground at least a little bit, hoping it will discourage her somewhat. I'm not sure it works...

This last weekend we spent in town, but that doesn't mean we had our feet up! From Friday evening through last night we kept busy with house projects and with other activities around town, whether or not Scott wanted to. :-)

Friday evening started out with cleaning out the garage - throwing some things away, making a garage sale pile for the next day's sales in Paradise Valley, pulling all the previous owners' junk from the garage loft and replacing it with our own, and generally getting ready to move some big pieces of furniture out on Saturday. When it was all said and done, we didn't really gain all that much space, but I like to think we at least accomplished a little bit.

Then Saturday morning we headed out first thing to take our garage sale stuff to friend Jamie's and then to start scoping out the community's sales, and we met with success!

After painting the thrift frames for our wedding party, and liking how they looked, I was excited to find this box of assorted wooden picture frames to use for similar projects. None of them have glass, which is easily enough picked up at Hobby Lobby for cheap. For two dollars I took the box home with me, and at the same garage sale we purchased a set of vintage tv trays, which I've just remembered, and now I'm not sure where we put them when we got home. :-) They're gold right now, but my plan is spray paint and spray enamel to protect them from chips, and they also all have a little wheeled cart on which they fit.

I talked the woman down from five dollars to three for this leather case, which I plan to use for my laptop and other work accessories. This was the only sale where I ran into reluctance at my lower offer, but she took it. :-)

These wooden boxes were at a yard sale with a lot of really neat things. I could have picked up several more things, including one of the old-style cast iron tea kettles and a jar full of the large-sized glass marbles, but I refrained. The boxes were a good enough find.

I love the stamps and writing that's still on the bottom of the shallow box. It was originally used to ship film reels from New York City to movie theaters across the nation. A friend of mine says the two-cent stamp looks like it's from 1908.

Vintage glass ornaments for 50 cents for the box, anyone? I know not all of them are truly vintage, but I'd say three-quarters of them are, and I love the colors. They're in really good shape, too, with few scratches and nicks.

"There goes Grandma's skilled for 25 cents." - That's what the girl said when I purchased the red enamelware piece for the baby room. I sure wouldn't have sold such a pretty piece for a quarter, especially if it was sentimental!

There was a sticker for 75 cents on one of these baskets, and I asked if that was for one or both, and I was told both, so they came home with me, too. :-) The lid on one of them isn't in very good shape, so I think I will remove it and the hinges and use it for an open basket.

After garage sales Melissa arrived in town from Lander, and we began moving furniture around. She took a loveseat and coffee table from downstairs, and when Jamie arrived to help she, Melissa and Scott moved the armoire from the garage to its proper place in the baby room downstairs. I was glad I hadn't worked on it at all, as it did end up with a gouge from the steps, but all in all it went pretty well.

We tried to take the crib downstairs, but it wouldn't fit so we ended up taking it apart, and I'll paint it outside in pieces before reassembly downstairs.

Because of all the other things we were getting done, I didn't get to start on painting the crib, but my chalk paint and wax is still waiting!

When we were done with furniture moving Melissa and I went out for ice cream, stopped by the new camera shop here in town and went to Salvation Army, where she purchased these chairs that I had seen a couple weeks earlier. She also got the neatest folding chairs, which were made in Connecticut and have to have been one of the first prototypes for modern folding chairs - it took us a few minutes to figure out how to get the contraptions to fold up.

Melissa headed back to Lander shortly after five, and Scott and I went to Old Chicago for dinner with the Martinez family.

On Sunday, much to Scott's delight, I had him help me with more projects around the house, including edging the front flower bed, spraying weeds, cleaning the patio and moving our extra firewood around to the north yard.

That's when I also swept the patio and rearranged, using some of the firewood stumps to elevate some of my pots. Although it's nothing spectacular, it looks a lot better than it did! Most of the planters pictured are in full sun all afternoon, so they have my spinach, lettuce and herbs, which can take the heat. The few pots that don't have anything growing yet I planted with the last leftovers from my seed packets.

This concrete pad next to the driveway was filled with firewood, but now I've turned it into a plant center. I'm not entirely happy with it, but will continue to tweak it, I'm sure. It's in part shade, so my more particular flowers should do well and not burn up.

After cleaning the office, Scott made me take a nap, which actually felt pretty good, and then we went out to check on the fillies, who are doing well. Cindy Lou's crooked knee has straightened up quite a bit in the last two weeks.

When we got home this gentleman tom turkey was getting ready for night in a neighbor's tree.

Several days ago I first saw him in another neighbor's front yard, and Scott told me I must be crazy. But ever since then he's been hanging out in the neighborhood, and seems quite content.

So that was our weekend. Busy, but we got a lot done. I was glad to come to work today, to take a break. :-) Tressa and I have a photo shoot planned for this evening for our July 4th cover this weekend, and hopefully we get a nice sunshiney sunset with gorgeous light... We've had a lot of thunderstorms go through in the afternoon/evening, so I'm hoping for the best. Today I also go to the baby doctor - on a three-week schedule now, as we count down the last 10 weeks!