Come on and Take a Free Ride

UPS has been knocking on our door almost every day this week it seems! We've finally got Hez's bike seat and helmet and are excited for a summer of bikes trails! Consensus? He cried. At first. But who really wants to wear a big funny helmet with a paci decal that says "I love mom" on it? I'm not one to complain about a decal promoting myself, but I do get that the helmet can be a bother. Hence the lack of one on my own head... I am planning to pull the little paci and other decals off and replace them with something cooler though.

But once we got to riding, he started to figure out that it was a pretty cool little set up. Sit back, relax and enjoy the view while I do all the work. And so far I am pretty happy with the front mount bike seat for him. It is slightly awkward to pedal, but not enough to really care. I'm not planning to race with him or anything, so for around town leisure rides it will do quite nicely!

A Strapping Young....Strap?

Teen Mom commercials = perfect mini-sewing project time! Made myself a cover for my boring 'ole stock camera strap. It's just a tube of fabric with some hot glued little fabric flowers I made. It was so quick and easy I'm thinking I might whip up some more, you know, so I have options. After I made this one (and one for my sis!) I found a lot of tutorials online for making straps, and they are a lot more fancy than my little 10 minute one! I'm definately going to try a few of these.

• Skip to my Lou's Tutorial


• The Cottage Home's Tutorial


• Crafty Southern Mama's Tutorial


• Kevin & Amanda's Tutorial

1st Birthday: The Outfit

When I dressed Hez up for his "strong man" portraits for his invitations, I knew stripes were a must! This $5 navy striped onesie from Old Navy would have done the trick, but sleeveless would have been much better. I grabbed a cheap $3 navy onesie from Target to cut up and use as bias tape. It seemed easier than going to the fabric store although price wise it was probably the same. After cutting off the sleeves, I pinned on the strips from the other onesie (their folded twice just like normal cotton bias tape). After a quick stitch on the machine, this alteration had only taken me around 15 minutes.

Food Friday: Mediterranean Chicken

This one is EASY! And it can easily be a one pan dish. I took the idea from a recipe in some Sonoma Diet Cookbook, but made it a lot simpler. Because who doesn't like simple, especially when it tastes good! It's also easy to make it ahead and leave it in the fridge until you're ready to cook it.

Here's what you need:

• Small bag of spinach
• 1-2 cups brown rice (Buy it precooked in the little microwavable dish and save yourself from having to cook it! There's a picture of the 'instant rice' below, and for this recipe you don't even have to microwave it.)
• 2 chicken breasts
• Garlic
• Butter
• Lemon
• Wine (completely option...but it does make for some nice juicy chicken!)
• Feta Cheese
• Pine Nuts (I always end up leaving these out because I always forget them when I grocery shop!)

Step 1. Set your oven to 375 degrees. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with Pam. Fill it with spinach. It'll look like too much, but it shrinks down like crazy so load it up!

Step 2. Put the rice on top. Then lay the chicken on top of that. Easy huh?

Step 3. Seasoning time! Spread some minced garlic on the chicken, a pat of butter, some salt & pepper, then squeeze of juice of half a lemon over the whole thing. Splash some wine on top. About 1/4 cup or so.

Step 4. Sprinkle feta and pine nuts. Cover with foil. Bake for 45-60 minutes, depending on how thick your chicken is.

Enjoy!

Ready for the Outdoors!

Last Mother's Day, I got this Schwinn Gateway I'd been itching for at Target. And since last Mother's Day I had also just recently had a baby, I have only had one chance to ride it. That being the day we brought it home when I gave it a spin up the street.

image from target.com

But this summer, Hez is old enough to ride on the bike with me and I can't wait to get it out! I also can't wait to add a few things! Like this handmade wood porter crate. Gorgeous! The price is $125, and it's easy to see it's worth it for the craftsmanship. And it can hold a latte. Mmm. Not that I've got $125 lying around, but I can dream!

image from etsy.com seller onemorebike

And of course Hez is going to need a proper seat...and we're waiting for the UPS truck to deliver it (and his new baby helmet!)! I've been reading reviews on this WeeRide Kangaroo Child Bike Seat. It's priced under $50, so around the same as the traditional back mounting child seats. But I like the idea of him riding in front. I think getting him strapped in and taking him out would feel a lot more natural with him in front when you are balancing a bike, as opposed to awkwardly turning to get him in/out. I could be totally wrong though, I've never put a baby in a bike seat before! But I love that he would have such a fun view and I like that there's a little spot for him to put his arms up on. If you click on the link there's a cute picture of a little kid asleep, pretty funny.

image from amazon.com

I have two concerns with the front mount though. I know by comments that it does force you to petal slightly awkward because the seat is obviously somewhat wider than where your knees would normally be. And also the back support. If you recall most traditional bike seats, the "shell" of the backrest goes all the way up past the child's neck. Which I like, extra protection in case of a fall. A five point harness is a must for me though. Which both this front mounted and most back mounted ones I see have. I'm anxious to see how it'll work for us!

Nifty Fifty

image from Amazon.com

I've got a new lens coming my way, and I can't wait to try it out! This is my first new lens I have bought for my Canon (besides the one it is sold with) and even though it's one of the smaller (and thankfully less expensive!) ones, I think I am going to love using it! The Canon EF 50mm is supposed to be great for low light and portraits, and my house lacks good light and I have a baby that ends up in most of my shots! Perfect! Several sites have recently listed the lens as out of stock, including the site I found it for the cheapest at. I ended up getting it through Amazon and paid neither tax nor shipping. Now to wait 5-8 days. I'll be stalking the tracking number on UPS. On a completely related side note, I've started a photography challenge blog. Check it out, and join us over at the Shutter Bug Challenge!

Cooking up a bad case of DIY

I have a lot of pictures of our kitchen renovations, so I'm going to split them up into a few posts. These are all from the day we got the condo.

This one is standing just to the side of our front door. That little hallway looking opening is the kitchen, and the two doors on either side are small closets. Probably a coat closet and a pantry. Down the hall is the bathroom and baby's room. If you're bored try counting how many different wallpapers the picture has. Four would be the correct answer, though the wallpaper designer is just plain wrong.
Here's a shot straight into the kitchen. The fridge is behind the closet on the right. The ceiling is so low, the lighting leaves much to be desired (along with an awful bulging patch job), and the entire kitchen is just cramped and nasty. This was definitely not my dream kitchen. But still, it has potential.
A closet look in, check out the amazing variety of tiles. Sarcasm intended. The view from the dining room. Wallpaper the back of cabinets? And maybe a door or two? You better believe it. They knew how to not let anything go to waste. In this case, probably not the best trait. The kitchen has a snack bar (is that what it's called?) and some light blocking cabinets hanging in the 'pass through'.

It would have been nice to be able to live with the kitchen a while before we tore it out. But it was disgusting. No amount of cleaning could help it. Case in point. The lovely glued-on-top of the original counter tiling job. Who does that? What was wrong with the counter before?! The poor tile job left plenty of room for all sorts of food and nastiness to be stuck everywhere.

Check out this close up of the sink. They just. stopped. tiling. Most of the tile isn't even grouted, if it looks like it is, that's just because it's filled with nastiness. Beyond weird.

And then the floor tile. Because the linoleum must have been so bad they decided it would be a better idea to cover it with outdoor tiles. Just crazy glued to the linoleum. No tile saw? No problem, just snap 'em and fit what you can. Grouting seem like a crazy thing to do? Just caulk 'em! (Yeah, they CAULKED the spaces between the tile!). Wanting a seamless effect? Cover it all with Terra cotta outdoor paint.

Weird.

Craft Hope

I came across a crafting book called "Craft Hope" the other day at Barnes & Noble and it's got me itching to do some crafting. It's got dozens of crafts, pictures, tutorials and patterns. But it's not just a normal craft book, it's 'crafting for a cause' and all the crafts are matched with places and organizations around the world to donate them to. They have a website/blog with projects and information as well. I can't wait to get my craft on!

image from barnesandnoble.com

Lookin' Sharp

Teddy got a new bow tie today, although the original recipient was meant to be Hez. I found a tutorial for a Lil Mister Bow Tie over at the blog Delia Creates, and while the directions were easy to follow, I somehow ended up with a very tiny bow tie. And at the risk of choking my child I handed it down to his best stuffed friend (Momma being his very best friend...and Papa too). No harm in the size error though, it was a scrap anyways. But it looks like I'll have to do another "test run" with a scrap so I can have a good pattern to work off of. At least teddy can't complain he has nothing to wear to Hez's party anymore.

1st Birthay: The Invitations!

It's a vintage circus!
I started the invitations months ago. While I made the invitations in Photoshop, I give the idea credit to this etsy invitation. It's exactly what I was looking for! And although mail-back RSVP cards are not the norm for a one year old party, I couldn't help myself. What's a circus without a big red ticket? I created them in photoshop and instead of the normal 'number' on the edge of the ticket, I wrote in each invitees name. And below the "admit one" there is a check box for their RSVP. My plan is to use all the RSVP tickets in a little raffle at the party. The tickets were paired with little navy envelopes ready to mail back, and the invitation was sent in a ruby red envelope with a matching mailing label I created in Word.

Some information blurred for privacy.

Corned Beef Mash

Because even babies should have this very American and not-so-Irish traditional Saint Patrick's day food. Mashed potatoes, carrots and minced corned beef with a tiny bit of butter. It was a hit, the boy loves potatoes!

Prepared

With the countless disasters happening in the world, it baffles me why I have not had a good First Aid kit for my family or a stock of emergency food. Or even an emergency plan. So I got the emergency prepardness itch and it's been mine and the baby's project this week. I used the recommendations of a First Aid kit listed on the Red Cross and Kid's Health Websites. Both are fairly similar. I got most everything at Target, including a $10 red backpack. By purchasing their Up & Up store brand I saved a lot of money and the end cost of everything was roughly $80. I added a few extra things I thought were important because we have an 11 month old and rather than buying the suggested individual packets of alcohol swabs, ect, I purchased larger bottles of the alcohol, ect. Since we are a family of three I wanted to be thouroughly stocked for ourselves, as well as anybody we may encounter in an emergency situation that could require help.
Here is what my kit includes:

• Gauze Pads (small, medium & large)
• Cold Packs
• Large Bandages
• Small Bandages
• Bandage Roll
• Airborne Disease/Dust Masks (I noticed when I got home it was only a two pack and will be adding an additional box so we have enough for all of us)
• Gauze Wrap
• Cloth Tape
• Burn Gel
• Sterile Exam Gloves
• Tweezers
• Scissors
• Advil
• Neosporin
• Thermometer (free...it was one they gave us at the hospital when the baby was born!)
• Small scalple (I've had this, random to have but good for a first aid kit)
• Bar of Soap
• Toothbrush and toothpaste (part of the freebies from the dentist, I imagine in an emergency brushing our teeth would be a luxury and I wouldn't mind sharing with Eli)
• Hand Sanitizer
• Two flashlights (one that you shake to power)
• Two knives (one being a pocket knife)
• Emergency First Aid pamphlet

Then my "extras" that were added specifically for the baby:

• Single serving Pedialyte packs
• A few bags of squeezeable baby food puree (he doesn't eat puree anymore, but thinking ahead that our emergency food supply may be things he can't yet chew, it seems smart to have these fruit and vege packed pouches for him)
• Similac Toddler formula
• Pack of cloth diapers
• A long sleeve onesie that is bigger than what he currently wears
• Baby tylenol

I still need and would like to add:

• Safety pins (for the cloth diapers)
• Hand crank radio
• A bigger stronger flashlight and extra batteries (still keeping the no-battery one as well)

I removed most of the items from their boxes and organized them into plastic quart sized freezer bags to save space and ensure they stay dry in the event of flooding.I plan on sewing a first aid cross patch to the front of the backpack, and possibly some lettering to read "First Aid" or something to that extent so that it will be clearly labeled. I'm not exactly sure where/how we will store it, but I do want it to be close and accesible to an exit in our home. My goal is to stay on top of these things and update/cycle out things as they expire or would not be needed (like the formula or baby onesie).Next project will be preparing an emergency food/shelter bag which I will share as soon as we do it! On the same topic, they had small First Aid kits at Sports Chalet for 40% off today so I took advantage of the deal and got one for the van to replace my very outdated and half emptied one.

Post Slacker

I've been distracted lately with projects and no time to post them...but here is one of the latest! When we bought the bed/bed frame at Ikea, we also picked up the rest of the cabinets for our kitchen. I've never posted all the before and during kitchen pictures, but I will eventually! Anyways, I finally had a chance to put the cabinets together and (with the help of my husband) hang them. When we originally put in new cabinets we only installed the lower ones. Partly for financial reasons, partly for time constraints and addressing immediate needs on the house. So the upper cabinets have been missing for over a year now!


Here are the cabinets after me (and the baby!) assembled them.
And here they are half way hung!

All but one cabinet is hung (I changed my mind about the size for one on the very left of the sink so I need to go exchange it), all doors are on and handles have been drilled and attached! I love love love having the additional storage space and have been organizing and arranging and soon will be able to unpack the last two boxes of kitchen things that have been sitting in our closet.

Busy

Paper mache
Christmas Lights
Drill
Spray Paint
Duct Tape
Hot Glue
Wood

Using the above materials to make something for Baby's party that I am very excited about and is turning out perfect so far! Ugh, I want to post pictures! But then again...I don't! I'm taking plenty, so after the party I will most definately be posting my DIYs!

I made my bed and I'll sleep in it too

It's odd how a small thing like a fresh made bed can make such a difference to your day! I've made the bed for almost a week straight now, still going strong!
Bed frame: Ikea
Sheets: Target (and organic...yum)
Blue Quilt: Walmart
White Duvet: Target (clearance!)
Big Square Pillows: Already owned!