House progress

We stopped by our house yesterday and took a few pictures to document the progress.

This first one is from a few weeks ago.

New Works: Abigail Paintings

The inspiration for these latest works come from the story of Abigail from the Old Testament. This is one of my favorite scriptural accounts, not just because I love a strong female heroine (which I do),but because of the way that Abigail typifies Christ as a peacemaker.  

If you’re not familiar with this account, it all starts when Abigail’s husband, a guy named Nabal (which a hear means “fool”) gets into an argument with King David’s men over a little matter of sheep guarding. Insults are exchanged, and David comes marching up the road to Carmel with 400 men ready to do some serious damage. Abigail gets wind of this from a servant, and mounts a donkey to head David off at the pass (without consulting her husband). She brings an offering to pay for Nabal’s trespass and then falls at David’s feet, taking all the blame on to herself.

In the end, David recognizes Abigail’s wisdom and courage. She not only saves her own household, but she also spares two people the regret of bloodshed.

I apologize for the image quality in some of these. Gold can be a bit difficult to capture with a camera.

Hopefully there will be more to come.

Plein Air Painting at Wheeler Farm

There’s nothing like early morning in Utah. Should you be brave enough to venture out before the crack of dawn, you will be more than compensated for your efforts with cool temperatures, a quiet atmosphere, and one of the most gorgeous light shows in nature. That is, unless it rains—which is exactly what happened to me and Emily Carruth Fuller on our first plein air painting excursion to Wheeler Historic Farm. We still had gorgeous light and a great time, we just went for cocoa afterward. The whole idea of going to Wheeler stemmed from a long time goal to paint sheep. I swear, as soon as you start actively looking for farm animals, you can never find them. I was really close to pulling up a chair next to the 12300 freeway exit (there is a lovely, if somewhat inaccessible pasture there). If anyone is interested in trying this place out, I highly recommend it. There is a wealth of beautiful things to look at, friendly staff, and no risk of getting run off the road by a semi.

This is Emily Carruth Fuller. Painting in the rain just two months after her second son was born. Totally hard core.

This was my effort from the first trip. I was fighting the rain the whole time with a similar umbrella-on-easel structure like you see in Emily’s picture above. In the end, I kinda like what the water did to the texture.

This is what came of our second visit. It’s a much more buttoned-up oil sketch. This time instead of fighting the rain, I was racing to catch the light before the sun came all the way over the mountains.

How Firm A Foundation!

We were so happy to see the foundation get put in for our house!




PS, I’m about 32/33 weeks pregnant here.

Hardcore Nesting: Spring Cleaning

Either it’s the smell of spring in the air, or just watching every episode of Lush House while I was home sick, but I have been on a spring cleaning rampage. I’ve always been a bit of a rampage cleaner. I’m not so great with the day-to-day stuff, but I love the weird power rush that comes from throwing out a ton of junk and making everything orderly and clean. I heard somewhere that leaving projects undone leaves a constant low-level of stress on you all the time. So, I decided to make a day or two out of knocking out every project that’s been bothering me. Mind you, most of them haven’t bothered me enough to have not procrastinated taking care of them in the first place, but what can I say, no time like the present.

Here are a few of the project’s I’ve checked off the list:

1. Start a donation box: I was amazed how quickly ours filled up just from sitting open in the corner. I went through it once before donating and was surprised how much useless junk was in there that I wouldn’t miss.
2. Scrub the bathtub: I mean REALLY scrub it. You know what really works for this? Baking soda. Go figure?
3. Clothes: Put away all out of season or pre-pregnancy clothes. Donate anything you wont use. This came down to just about everything. Basically if it’s not a jersey knit, I’m not wearing it.
4. You know all those half empty bottles of lotion of conditioner? Heat them up in the microwave and pour them into one bottle. Throw away the rest. I’m trying not to hang on to products I bought that ended up failed experiments.
5. Papers: put ‘em away or throw them away. We broke down and bought a shredder at Wal-Mart recently. This is the first step on the path to our paperless pipe dreams. The next step will be to get a doc scanner. We’ve only gotten through a few stacks of shred so far, but paper beware! The doc-pocalypse is coming!
6. Clean out squirrel holes: This is what I like to call any easy to reach places where you inevitable squirrel away objects you are too lazy to find a place for. For us this was out living room bookshelf, coffee table baskets, and night stands.
7. Do an overhaul on the fridge: For some time now, I feel like our fridge has had an unidentified funk that lingers despite numerous cleanings. I clean it, open the door an hour later, and there’s the funk again! Our place is pretty small, and I swear I can smell it from other rooms.  UGH! This time I took everything out of the fridge, cleaned it with vinegar, then cleaned containers as I put them back in. I topped it off with some fresh baking soda, and it seems to have done the trick.
8. Cleaning up the sickness: So far this spring, I’ve had three colds. It’s kinda sucked. We’ve had the humidifier going non-stop and endless trails of tissues and various illness related paraphernalia cluttering up every surface. Well that’s all over now. I got this marvelous idea from pinterest about doing a Cold Caddy. This has a two fold purpose 1) it keeps all your cold stuff together and stores neatly under the sink. 2) it’s easy to take with you from room to room instead of making a zillion trips every time you need something.
9. Plastic boxes, labeling, and un-labeling: Those plastic shoe-box like containers from the dollar store (or Ikea) have been a complete revelation to me. There are very few small messes that cant be contained, neatly stacked, and labeled in one of these suckers. Last summer we did our whole downstairs closet for about $10 in boxes and maybe $20 in extra shelves. We’re also repurposing some plastic drawers we have to put baby clothes in. Since we’ve had them it’s always bugged me that I couldn’t get the labels all the way off. I busted out the Goof Off to get the job done, but I understand you can get a similar, less smelly, effect by using tea tree oil.
10. Clean out the planters from last summer: This one is a little embarrassing. My poor little container garden was ravaged by every form of wildlife. At one point I saw a chipmunk, halfway up my cherry tomato plant, munching away and boldly staring me down right through the glass. I guess living at high elevation  makes animals brazen.  By the end of the summer,when my herbs were bolting and my veggies had all but dried up, I just gave up on the garden. It sat out there with it’s pathetic little stocks sticking up out of the snow all winter. Since we’re planning on moving this summer, I decided the contain my intense springtime plant-o-mania for one season (though it’s not easy). Since I’m planning on re-using my soil, I decided to beef it up a bit while it stews in a container all season. To do that I added organic fertilizer, cocoanuts fiber, and what is said to be the black gold of soil—earthworm castings—known to most a worm poo. All the pots got scrubbed with soap and shelved.


11. Raise bed up for more storage underneath: We now have our bed high enough to fit laundry baskets underneath. It’s so nice not having that stuff stacked in the corner anymore.

Here are a few more natural cleaning tips I picked up from watching far too much TV:
Kitchen:

• Use wax shavings and a blow dryer to keep things out of grout
• Soap the sides of drawers that stick to get them to slide smoothly
• Lavender water cleans counters well and leaves a lovely smell
• Clean fans, baseboards, shelves, picture frames, etc. with dryer sheets to further repel dust
• Run dishwasher empty with a bowl of vinegar in the top
• Use magazine holders for ziplocks, saran wrap, tin foil, etc.

Bathroom:

• Wax the shower walls
• Clean stuffed animals by putting them in a pillowcase with unprocessed bran and a tablespoon of vinegar. Shake. Brush clean.
• Use pantyhose to get in stubborn areas around faucets

Living Room:

• Clean wood with tea and lavender oil
• Put baby powder on creaky stairs
• Clean couch with bran and /or bran ball. Mix unprocessed bran with vinegar until it comes together like brown sugar. Put into stockings and rub couch or sprinkle and vacuum.
• Plaster of Paris to get stains out of marble
• A table top fountain will help keep down dust-- add lavender for scent
• Use a sock or paper towels clipped to tongs for cleaning blinds

Bedroom:

• Clean mattress with baby powder and baking soda
• Use TP rolls in a box to sort extra cords for phone chargers, USB cords, etc.

Carpets:

• Suck up a damp tea bag into the vacuum cleaner bag to kill dust mites
• Use a pair of nylons on the end of a vacuum hose to suck up spilled beads without getting them into the main part of the vacuum.

Stubborn Problems:

• Suck on labels: use rubbing alcohol, or tea tree oil
• Spray Oil of Cloves to remove mold

Pets:

• Clean itchy dogs with mint and regular tea mixed together

Cervix the Size of a Bagel—and Other Food Analogies I Learned in Birth Class

In a moment of maternal anxiety, we finally decided to take my midwife’s advice and attend a birth class. Being cheap, and relatively impatient, we took a class that was supposed to be a “natural birth refresher” for second time parents. This meant we did the class all in one Saturday, instead of several afternoons over four weeks. I can only assume they must be reading What to Expect When Your Expecting cover to cover to fill that time. I’m sure the things we learned in class will be helpful for my labor. But I’m also pretty sure they were trying to prepare us for the squishy nakedness of birth  by just embarrassing the snot us right up front. I guess they figure if you can handle the class, then you should have no problems during labor.

Here are some of the gems I picked up:

1. Birth class can be a scared straight experience for husbands. Just take a look at this chart:

If your lovely spouse ever had any reservations about his wife turning into a ferocious she-beast, this would solidify them. I would not show this to your partner before you get pregnant if you ever want him to be on board with the idea.  I’m sure in his head he goes to sleep one night with the lovely smiling lady in phase number one, and wakes to the full kabuki nightmare that is stage two.



2. All Parts of Labor can be Explained in Terms of Food:

Your cervix goes from the size of a cheerio to the size of a bagel. Right now, my baby is the size of a pineapple and will soon be the size of a small pumpkin.  I feel like a watermelon. When I think about that I get a little hungry. Then I get a little anxious about that pineapple coming out of that bagel. Then the anxiety just makes me hungry again.  Cheerio x bagel + pineapplepumpkinmelon = breakfast?

3. You don’t have to do EVERYTHING the pamphlet suggests:

Does anyone notice something odd about this picture? Why is the supposedly laboring woman fully dressed and the man is… well… let’s just say it might be a bit awkward for the nurses.

4. If you don’t make a lot of noise, they might dial up the Pitocin without telling you.
Also birth class is an excellent time to share horror stories.

5. If you don’t know how to make a lot of noise, it’s ok. Birth class will teach you.
Still feeling inhibited? How about if we perch you on all fours or make you squat next to the windowsill? Would you like to be taught how to draw a tree on your spouse’s back while under the watchful eyes of strangers? You can learn it all in birth class.

I cant help thinking, in the moment, you’re gonna do what you’re gonna do, and no amount of practice moaning can actually “prepare” you.  Even if you do what you want, that doesn’t mean things will go as planned. I have my doubts about any kind of birth “plans” at all. That’s not to say that I don’t advocate birth education.  As someone who’s first maternal instinct was “panic hard and freak out now!” I’d be remiss if I told anyone not to learn as much as they can.  Anyone who checked my google history or library records could tell you I’ve been obsessively reading on the subject. Could eating tuna fish give my baby lower SAT scores? Is this Coke I had with lunch going to give her osteoporosis in her 60s? There is so much to worry about, and so little time.

As I started to run out of pop-science mommy guilt books, I started reading memoirs and fiction. Here’s one passage I came across in Waiting for Birdie by Catherine Newman that stuck with me:

With your first baby, you think (medication) is actually an important decision. Only later do you realize that a) you understand nothing about labor until it is happening to you, and b) birth is just a tiny town--barely a black dot--on the enormous, complicated road map that is the rest of your life as a parent. Mistaking birth for the main event is like thinking that the floral arrangements at your wedding will somehow determine to quality of your marriage . You don’t realize that the hard part--the real part--comes later.

So maybe I’ll relax a little about birth now. I’m going to be a parent. I may never relax about anything else again.

Hardcore Nesting Using Craigslist

Want to meet moms in your area? Try looking for baby stuff on craigslist. Not only did Colin find us this awesome rocking chair for a steal, but the mom we picked it up from seriously had all the dirt on where to do your baby shopping in the area! Bonus! This little treasure fit neatly in the back of our car with the help of a little creative roping. It came in a slip cover that will probably remain on the chair just to protect it, but I was so impressed by the lovely linen that was lurking underneath that it seemed almost tragic to put it back on. However, after the slip cover was washed, dried, and ironed with a little lavender oil (a trick my mama taught me), it has that fluffy essence of home that makes me want to spend all my time there. One of us can almost always be found here relaxing after work. It’s become like our second living room.

The New Dresser

So I finally finished our new dresser this week.  We were at Ikea a few weeks ago and saw this in the “As-Is” section for 45% off and couldn’t resist:

So after 4 years of marriage, we decided it was finally time to upgrade from plastic drawers to a real solid wood dresser.  With a little bit of sanding, painting, cursing, sanding, and painting again, this is the result:

I mentioned cursing.  A few lessons learned during this project: 

• Sand well so the paint sticks.  There were a few spots I missed that wanted to peel off at the slightest disturbance.
• Use a foam roller or Floetrol for a even finish.  My biggest challenge was that I used a brush to put on the first coat.  Since the paint was thick (paint+primer), it didn’t flatten out before it dried, leaving brush strokes, even with a brand new brush.  Using a foam roller or additive would have prevented this (or an oil-based paint, but they’re smelly).  I ended up sanding down the ridges and using the foam roller on top to get an even coat.
• Latex paint takes a long time to fully cure – up to 30 days.  Heat and/or air movement helps.  Sanding when it’s dry but not cured is no fun, and it gums up easily.

Counting Steps

I’ve recently purchased a small pedometer to keep track of my steps in an effort to improve my health, since I mostly sit all day at work, and the health problems associated with sitting a lot are well-documented.  The first step (ha ha, get it…STEP….) for me is to figure out how well I’m doing.

My pedometer.  If only that was my daily total!

There are some fancy pedometers that keep track of all sorts of things and sync your fitness data to a website or smartphone with fancy charts and graphs, but they’re rather expensive. Mine is a basic 3-axis model that tracks the previous 7  days.  Every Sunday I update a spreadsheet so I can see my progress.  My goal is to get the dashed line closer to 10000, which is the recommended number of steps per day.  Some observations: I walk a lot more during the week than I do on weekends, probably because I try to walk around the block for 15 minutes every day after lunch during the week.  The drastic swings from one day to the next might be the pedometer picking up my leg jiggling during the day, since I think I normally walk about the same amount from day to day. I’ll have to investigate this further.

Makin’s for Minja: Little hat