Photo Chain

I have photo frames plastering all of the walls of my house. From the stairwell to the living room, to our guest room - there may be over 100 photo frames. Fortunately most of them were gifts, and we had used many of them for our wedding decorations (thanks mom!). And they're great for those weird spaces - like the 1 foot strip between bedroom doors in our upstairs hallway.

Sometime last year (or possibly the year before) I saw this great idea from Lowes to hook photos together with small chain. I LOVED it. But since I didnt have any chain, I thought I would use what I had - ribbon from our wedding. I like the results - there was still something of a cool factor with the chain - but at least he photos are all hanging in a straight line now - and if I need to move them, it will be easier to move one set instead of five.  

Book Report: The Hunger Games series

Let's just put it out there right up front. I'm an obsessive reader and this series played to my weaknesses - so it gets 4/5 stars. Not enough to change my life, but I absolutely tore through them (3 books, 4 days... thank you Kindle!). Post - apocalyptic North America, separated into districts where people are essentially slaves - that have to send annual "tribunes" (essentially child gladiators) to fight to the death. I loved the action. I loved the love triangle. I loved that there was a tough girl oblivious to 'the effect she could have'. I'm stoked I read them before the movie comes out next year, and am sad its over.

Good character naming and development, realistic reactions and emotion, original plots, enough descriptions of the environment to visualize being there. The only complaint I had was it was too darn short of a series!

Book Report: The Mortal Instrument Series

I picked up this trilogy at my friends house - I think she said something like "it was pretty good" - no raving reviews, but worth reading if you're looking to pass the time. And that's how I would rate it as well.

The first half of the first book was pretty bad actually. The naming conventions alone seemed to be a few letters off from Harry Potter characters - and the main character Clarissa... aka "Clary", well I think it isn't much of a coincidence that the author's last name is Cassandra Clare. The relationships and character types (werewolves, vampires, demons) are no different than in other stories. The plot was a mix between Harry Potter, Twilight and the movie "Wanted". However, once you get passed that - around 3/4 of the way through the book you get pulled in. Its strange how that can happen.

So I read through two and three quickly - and by the end of the trilogy I had a good feeling about the series. I did route for the romance, and I found myself liking the characters pretty well.

Anyway, I gave the series a 3 stars overall. I think the author could have done a lot more with the initial layout - it was just interesting enough to pull you in, but really, it could have been better. Good enough to pass the time though.

Our New (Bed) Spread

It seems like I change our bedroom with the seasons (big thanks to the husband for putting up with me)! And as it has just turned to spring, I've gotten some nice light covers and bright accents. My new favorite color is orange. (Another thing that changes with the seasons). I think the greys and orange really work with the blue walls - and pull in the headboard too. I'm trying to give the room a little less of a traditional feel - the old set was too matchy-matchy. Slowly but surely we're moving to a modern home. :)

I got the bed in a bag set  (comforter, pillow shams, throws) at Marshalls / Homegoods ($80). White sheets ($30), orange pillows ($20) sold seperately but also purchased there. Total cost $130. The fact that it hides dog hair? Priceless.

And I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my two old comforters. One I may recover or just save for the winter and/or guests. But the other? Not sure yet.

College Pillows

I found this in my 'to-post' file from last year. Whoops! 

We had gotten a few free t-shirts (that we'd never wear except for yard work or painting) and I found a great way to repurpose some of my things! I made them into pillows and sent them to my brother-in-law (who had played football at Elon) and sister-in-law for their apartment.

In an effort to be totally green, I didn't even buy stuffing. I just took an old mis-matched bedsheet that was torn (and not usable other than as a dropcloth) and some of our old t-shirts (that were headed for the scrap pile anyway) and cut them into little squares. I used them to make the stuffing. I then sewed the t-shirt into a pillow and stuffed it full of the fabric scraps. It took a while, but was fine to do while watching TV. Plus it was totally free.

The only thing I would change? I would use sweater scraps or something light and fluffy next time; the t-shirts and sheets made the pillows really heavy and took a while to get enough to fill up the two 17" square pillows.

Back In the Saddle Again

I'm baaaaack... back in the saddle again. I've been MIA on my blog for the past 1-1/2 months. Sorry.

Lots has been going on. McNugget is now rolling over (achieved in month six) and has two teeth (bottom center - achieved at the same time in month six), and is feeding herself her bottle (achieved in month 7), which makes getting ready in the morning so much easier! During month seven she also pulled her self from sitting to standing twice, so we're currently working on that. We haven't seen many signs of crawling- fingers crossed for the next few weeks, but she's doing fantastic sitting up on her own and is certainly strong enough to crawl. She eats a ton of solids now - sweet potatoes, avocado, green beans, whole milk yogurt, bananas, rice cereal - and is just the worlds best eater.

The baby babble is still all about 'da-da-da' and 'ba-ba-ba', along with some lip-smacking, bubble-blowing and tongue sticking-out. We're working on getting her to identify what those babbles mean, and encouraging 'ma-ma-ma', although we haven't seen any signs of her giving into that either. Her favorite thing is still the jumper, and she loves her teachers and watching other kids. She does get scared of men she "doesn't know" (including her grandpop and uncle) - she's just much more okay with girls.

Bo got a new job and is now working Mondays - Fridays. The new (fantastic) schedule lets us enjoy our family together for the first time. We've went on our first family trip to the aquarium (which McNugget LOVED with all the colors and kids running around), and then the Reading Terminal Market the following weekend. Its just super.

Alright, more to come later this week.