Projection on Projects

Here is a list of projects I would like to do for the new house, or simple Christmas presents...or for fun

Small projects I think I can complete this month include:
Amaya's hand cross-stitched for ornaments
Homemade calendar with personalized quotes for our new kitchen or office
Hand designed glasses, a la glass pen.
And if we actually manage to close on the new house...
Get some new bedding in a charcoal gray color or shades of gray from light to dark - like these

painting Amaya's room purple

painting BB's room blue/gray with cool vertical stripes in green, orange, white and navy (I swear this looks good in my head and not like a circus tent). 

Big projects that involve much more than a trip to Michael's and a tiny house including a summer with a husband who has his days off:

farmhouse table
console table
making the head and footboard for our bed

I don't necessarily think its a great idea to publish all of this incase I fail epically, keeping a running tally on a piece of paper does not always work in my favor.  And if I know that it is out there for someone else to read and potentially ask about...it may just put a fire under my ass.

You put in, I take out.

Yesterday's packing adventures were more of a misadventure.   I realized the nature of a toddler beast once she is able to grab stuff we never allow her to play with, i.e., old cassette tapes which Dave collects.  I felt like the bad mommy having to redirect her over and over again when all she was feeling was tremendous joy at her new found (dangerous) playthings.
Although, she was great at unpacking as I moved from room to room looking for random cds that have been placed throughout the house over the years, in my attempt to keep the boxes pure and organized.  I will have to use this to my advantage at an unknown later date.
Today, back in the adventure zone, I will tackle her room, which shouldn't be too hard.  She is used to spending time in there, and I have already managed to organize her old clothes into SpaceBags according to size.  I will just throw those into a plastic bag and save them for friends' future babies.  Garbage bags with label tags will hopefully abound today.  Closets beware!

Okie Dokie

Well, I thought I'd start this off with a cheery title, reminiscent of a lovely German fellow Dave and I got to know in Boston.  Brilliant man, he was, (studying the brain at one of the most prestigious institutes there is) he had a strange grasp of this phrase and overused it to the point of obsession.  "Okie Dokie, lets go for coffee", he might say.  It makes me laugh a little in my brain whenever I hear it, so I thought I'd share.  And so it begins...
Well, this is not my first attempt at this.  In fact, around New Years, I started writing and dropped the ball.  Not a huge surprise for me.  Follow through is not my strong point.  Anyways, after having a rough spring and traveling a bit over the summer, I feel as though I've successfully made it to a point where I may be capable of dedicating a little time each week to writing out the events and emotions of my life.  As I stated above, this is to document milestones and kinda be like a diary of sorts for my family.  I don't know where this is going, or what it may or may not evolve into.  I may be feeling a bit of post-Thanksgiving nostalgia as Christmas is upon us with all of its "cheery" music, twinkling lights and shiny new material possessions.  Who knows?
Well, what I do know is that I have an amazing 16 month old daughter who makes me laugh everyday.  I have a new little boy on the way and a husband who is supportive through (most) of my mood swings and stress induced craziness.  (some of them really are completely irrational, fighting over facebook, really?  oh yeah - it happened...)   Throw in there the stress of potentially moving into a new home over the holidays to all of this and its a firestorm of anticipation, stress, anxiety and giddy happiness!

Patient people we are, we made it through 95% of a short sale process, and hopefully the bank doesn't drop the ball in the last 2 weeks.  Also, over the course of the final 2 weeks of the home purchase, add traveling across country on a 12 hour journey back to the frigid Northeast, single with a toddler and being 6 months pregnant.  I don't mean to sound sarcastic, but I have a lot to look forward to.

Anyways, I am hoping to start packing up the old home this week, in a calm and organized manner.  Excel spreadsheet and sharpie in hand...hopefully, while baby numero uno is fast asleep for that precious 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  We have been planning on moving since the summer, but I am superstitious and feel like everything will fall through if I have everything set to go.  So far it has worked in our favor and the house price has dropped in that time so our payments will be significantly lower (SCORE!).   Wish me luck as I begin to dig through old cabinets and tip top garage shelves.  Who knows what I may find or where I may "wind up" (that's my overused phrase, BTW - you may hear it a lot).