Chewable Jewels

Anyone heard of these? They are chew toys for babies made into necklaces, bracelets, etc., that moms can wear and then let their babies gnaw to their hearts' content. They're meant to combine a mom's need for fashion with a baby's need to slobber all over her mother's pearls.

Crazy?

Brilliant?

Adorable?

Ugly?


What do you think?

The Cave

I am 12 weeks along today. And I feel like I am slowly coming out of a very dark, very awful cave. Slowly. There is light up ahead. I'm not quite there yet. But I can see the light and smell a bit of fresh air.

Today was a good day. I felt good, I had enough energy to clean the whole house. I even put up a few Halloween decorations. Ya, just a tad late on that. But between the morning sickness and the flu I had last week, I just haven't felt like doing anything. ANYTHING. Getting out of bed? Barely. Put on make-up? Only the bare minimum. Cleaning? Nope. Cooking? Definitely not. Blogging? Emailing? Online shopping? Reading? All the things I usually really enjoy? No, not even those. I swear, this pregnancy has just sucked the life right out of me. Well, all pregnancies, but this one most lately.

It's funny how when you're in the midst of morning sickness and fatigue and general ickiness you can't remember what it was like before and you don't realize how bad it really is. But once you start coming out of it, you realize just how bad your quality of life has been for the last 2 1/2 months. It's a little shocking.

So I apologize to everyone--my few faithful readers, my kids, my cat, my neglected house, my friends and family, and most importantly, my wonderful sweet husband who has taken such excellent care of me during this awfulness.

Hopefully as my will to live is restored, my will to blog and read blogs will too. I've missed it. I've missed YOU. I'm going to go reacquaint myself with that little button at the top of my gmail page: READER.

See you soon....

Before And After

I am fascinated by, borderline OBSESSED by, shows that deal with before and after. Fix-it makeovers, surgical makeovers, weight loss shows, dance makeovers (you know, they start crappy/average and get better and better), home decor makeovers, even to some extent clothing make-overs (although I secretly suspect most of them go back to t-shirts and sweats as soon as the cameras go off). I seriously can't get enough of the makeover shows. Something about seeing things before and then seeing things after, in a new and improved version, is extremely appealing to my inner psyche. I can't say why, I only know that at least 50-75% of the shows I tape have to do with some kind of before and after. The rest are crime documentaries. Seeing someone get pinned for bloody carnage also appeals to my inner psyche. I probably shouldn't look too deeply at my psyche. It might be troubling.

Anyhow, it kind of explains why I love painting rooms so much. A little paint slapped on can make such a huge difference in the feel of a room, it can even create a total metamorphosis in some rooms. I painted every room of my old house but one. I never could come up with a good idea for that room. I've pained at least half of the rooms in the last three houses my sister has owned. I have even painted a good portion of my in-laws' house.

So here, at my new house, I was both glad and somewhat disappointed to discover they'd used mostly paint colors I actually liked. But one room has bothered me since we moved in. The family bath. My towels for this room were milk chocolate brown, the accessories a dark oil-rubbed bronze. And the wall color? Pale, cold yellow. Not even a rich buttery yellow. Just a very pale, lemony beige. It did NOT go well with my bathroom decor. So here is the before and after...




AND...





Ahhh. So satisfying!

Random October

Is it really October? How did that happen? I'm always a little surprised when I realize summer is really gone.

And in spite of the fact that I really hate fall because it leads to winter, and I really hate winter, I am actually really glad to be wearing pants and jeans again. I was SO sick of wearing my 3 pairs of capris that fit me.

Sadly, however, I only had about a week or two where my favorite jeans fit me.

I am now too fat.

I am now dependant on old jeans a size larger and jeans with lycra.

Thank heavens for lycra.

My shirts? Well, there's just nothing I can do about those. I am now too fat to wear any fitted shirts. Not fat enough to look pregnant, just fat enough to look overfed. I don't feel ready to move on to maternity shirts. But I may not have any other options.

The upsides of this pregnancy are A)Oreo shakes B)fried zucchini with ranch C) lots of kind of cheese (I'm super craving dairy) D)REAL Coke E)Pretty much all other foods I don't usually get to eat. F) All the foods I normally don't get to eat x 10 because I eat at least 6 full meals and 4 snacks a day. I'm not joking. Breakfast 2 or 3 times, lunch by 10:30, second lunch at 1, huge snack at 2 or 3, dinner at four, dinner again with the family at 5-6, another dinner at 8 or so, then snacks or another meal before bed. G) My husband has been SUPER AWESOME--making dinner and breakfast, fetching me treats from everywhere late at night, getting up with the kids in the morning...you name it, if it's sweet or something I don't want to do, he's been doing it.

The downsides of this pregnancy are A)Morning sickness. It kicked in big time last week. Still no barfing, but lots of close calls and a general feeling of wanting to toss my cookies at all times. (mmm....cookies), B)exhaustion. Yesterday I worked super hard on the weed fest that will be my garden next year. I had a respite from the nausea so I wanted to take advantage. It wore me out so bad that I went to bed at 8:15pm and woke up at, yes, 8:30am. CRAZY. C) Peeing. I literally cannot count the number of times a day I pee. I mean, I guess I could count them. I can count into the double digits, you know. But after a dozen, in one night, I just give up. D) A general feeling of malaise and lackadaze and whogivesacrapiness. I just can't muster the energy or will to do anything these days. i.e. my house is a disaster.

Speaking of my house, I still do intend to do a few pictures for those of you who still have any interest in seeing them.

I also have a post with before and after pictures of my bathroom revamp. I just need to upload the pics.

I have no good camera at the moment. My one good one was destroyed by my kids. My Chinese replacement leaves much to be desired. I'm saving up for a really good one. A digital SLR. Can't wait. I haven't taken a decent pic in a while.

Am contemplating when to switch over to shoes from flip flops. I don't feel committed enough to the fall weather to wear socks and shoes every day. But I'm always afraid if I wear flip flops my feet will freeze. How do you know when it's time take the plunge and move on to shoes?

I saw The Social Network this weekend. It was good. Very well-written, clever, fast-paced and witty. Aaron Sorkin. No wonder.

I had sushi before the movie. It was even better than the movie. But not as witty.

I'm off sweets. Isn't that weird? ME!?! I guess nausea and pie don't go that well together. Who knew?

Well, thinking of pie makes me realize it's time to go have dinner. Well, third dinner. (I wish there was a KFC around here; I would love a pot pie.) And then off to bed. After all, it is 9pm.

The Mouths Of Babes

Three funny things Beck has said to me lately:

While walking through Costco, I asked my kids what they wanted to be for Halloween. Very loudly Beck shouted, "I want to be a PRINCESS!!!" Three or four people near me laughed while trying to look like they weren't laughing. It didn't make me feel any better when Daphne followed up with "I want to be a Tiger." Don't these kids get gender rolls???

Today Beck said, inexplicably, "Mom, I wish my poop was RED." No idea why. Really, I can't imagine.

Later, I asked Beck how he thought food was getting to the baby in my tummy. He looked at me for a minute, then making his little fingers into a pointing shape, he traced a line from my mouth down to my stomach (and I thought he was being so clever) then up my side, down my arm and finally up to my ear. Close, buddy, close.

Seeing Signs

I was at the Fashion Place Mall the other day. I have to say, they have a very nice bathroom area in the food court. REALLY nice, actually. It reminded me of something from a nice hotel, with a lounge area full of modern art and leather couches outside the restrooms and granite counters and large stalls within. They had a family bathroom with a mini toilet for kids. They even had a room dedicated just to nursing mothers. Only one thing kind of struck me as odd about this bathroom area...



I don't think whoever made this sign really gets how breastfeeding works. It usually involves BOOBS, People. Not doobs, boobs. But whatever. I guess any men who'd like to take over the nursing for us women are more than welcome to it!