Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Esty Finds

For some reason, this time around, I could not find a diaper bag in the stores that I liked. They were all HUGE and either black/brown or really baby-ish... like with "baby" printed on it, etc. So I decided to start browsing Etsy. It was a little tough searching, but eventually I found something I liked. I ordered from Tweedle Totes. She was GREAT to work with! Great selection of fabrics and excellent communication! I chose not to go with having Morgan's name monogrammed onto it, because I figured that I like this fabric enough to continue to use this after we are done with diapers. I started looking at her selection of embroidery designs and thought this little bird would be cute. I love this bag!

It's large enough to hold everything, but not massive. Just right for me! She has other options available as well as wipe case covers, burpies, bibs & more.

Also, this time around, I didnt get to decorate a nursey for Morgan, since she is sharing a room with Layla. But I couldnt help trying to think of ways to decorate their room a little more. I was browsing some of my favorite shops on Etsy, and saw this adorable hanky. This one happen to come from Oodles, or Barbara from Oodles and Oodles.

With an L, I knew I would have to find an M. I was hoping to find maybe one in purple, but I found a blue one instead. This one came from This Could Be You.

I have these hanging from a shelf that is above Morgan's crib. I plan on taking some pictures of their room, since obviously the crib is now put together, and some of those unfinished projects are now finished.

Have a great weekend!

One Week

In less than an hour, Morgan will be one week old. It's so hard to believe a week has passed already. The time just flies by too fast. Don't you wish you could slow it down?

She's a really good baby. She has been eating 2 oz. at a time and waking up around 10-11 (before I've gone to bed) and then around 3 and 6.

Blake & Layla are really pretty happy with her. Layla wants to do nothing but kiss her all day. No matter how much we tell her to stop!

I think I've got a case of the "baby blues". Hopefully they will pass quickly. I am definetly happy to have her here and be home with her. I guess it's just an adjustment, I never had this with the other two.

Anyway, have a great week!

Some photos...

Just thought I would share a few more photos from while we were in the hospital :).

Everything is going good here at home. Trying to adjust to having a new baby again. It's been awhile!

She's Here!

A little early! Morgan Marie Brennan was born Monday, March 2 at 8:27 pm. She weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz and was 21 inches long.

More Projects...

I think all of us have a number of unfinished projects going at once. I'm sure I have more than what I am about to talk about here, but these are the ones I remember, lol. With less than 2 weeks till my due date, this is probably one of the more urgent unfished projects:

The crib. It's been in our kitchen for several weeks. Mike has been pretty busy with other projects & work, so I cant blame him. It should be put together this weekend I'm sure.

One of the other projects he has been busy with, is switching the kids' rooms. We knew there was no way we were going to fit both girl's into the room Layla had. So we had to switch. The kids picked new colors and Mike got busy. Layla did purple again, but this time we added a pink wall since Morgan's bedding is mostly pink. Sorry for the glare, but we had the house opened up today. So nice to not run the ac or heat! That huge white dresser was another project from awhile back. We got those for free after a yardsale. They were an ugly 80's cream with gold handles. Much better now I think!

Sorry this shot is a little blurry, but it shows the pink.

Now for an unfinished project. None of the bedroom closets in this house have doors on them. Awhile back, on one of his jobs I believe, Mike found some metal poles that we could use for the closets, thinking I could get some fabric and make panels to cover the closet. Well, we've had those poles for awhile now, and I was growing more and more tired of looking at closet clutter. I had the idea to just look for flat sheets. I figured they would be cheaper than that much fabric. So, off to Walmart we went. Found a sheet and some curtain clips... Blake's is finished, Layla's isnt.

Another project that will be easy to finish. Ironing these curtains I made when we first moved in. These were on Layla's old window, but since she now has two windows, she needed new ones. So I'm going to take these...


And hang them from that tension rod there...



Blake also has an unfinished project. He has a desk, but no chair. He hasnt since he got the desk. I've kind of been looking for one, but not really trying that hard. Then I saw an idea in one of the Better Homes & Gardens organizing magazines I have. They took an upper cabinet and made it into a bench. I thought, maybe we could do that for Blake, just smaller. Then it would tuck into his desk and also take up less visual space than a chair. Especially since it's right next to his bed.

So that's the plan. Mike brought this home from work. We just need a piece of plywood, some batting, some fabric and some feet of some sort. They used bun feet, I was thinking locking casters might be good since we have wood floors. We might also paint it black, havent decided yet.

Now Blake's room also got painted, but when I tried to take pictures this afternoon, it was dark in there. Even with the light on and curtains open, so I'll have to try again another day. But for now, these are the colors he chose:

Now for some more finished stuff. Here is Blake's closet before:

And after, with the flat sheet & curtain clips closed. Much better I think! He chose the black. And for $7 for the sheet and $10 in clips, it's much cheaper than closet doors!

As you probably know, Linens & Things went out of business a bit ago. I had avoided them since we walked in and their "sale" was 10%. But one day when I went to Target, I figured I would stop in since they were next door. It was the last 3 days of the sale and everything was 80% off. I found a duvet set (sham & duvet), 2 sets of curtain rod finnials (regular $14.99 each, got them for $2.99 each) and a bedskirt, and my total was a little under $20. The bedskirt was intended for Blake's bed. It was an off-white color, but I figured I could dye it. I finally got around to it, using the rest of the black Rit dye I had leftover from the Halloween Trees. It turned out a dark grey, but I decided to leave it as is, instead of trying to go black.

I don't remember where I saw the idea for this, but when I saw it, I knew I wanted to make them for the kids. I used a canvas, chipboard letters, frames from the thrift store & buttons I picked up new. I started Blake's awhile back, so for his I had asked him to pick the colors.

For Morgan's, I decided to match it to her bedding. So hers is pink & white. I originally wanted to do pink & like a spring green, but I didnt find any buttons that shade at the store. (I don't think I ever posted the baby's name, but yes, it will be Morgan :))

Layla's was also matched to her bedding:

So what about you? Finish any projects lately? What about those unfinished ones you've got laying around? I'd love to see 'em!

What to do?

Several months ago, Mike's mom picked up a china cabinet from a yardsale for us. It wasnt our style, so his neice took it. But we took the china that it was full of. This is what's left.


This is all in the cabinets in our "outside" bathroom. It's not really OUTSIDE, it's just out of the main living space, off of the porch. Our extra fridge, washer & dryer are also out here. The plan was, to move my scrapbooking stuff out of the bedroom, and into these cabinets. Right now, it's all crammed into a tall bookshelf next to our bed, and I am just tired of looking at it. The problem is, the cabinets outside are full of these dishes. So now I have to decide what to do with them.



I do like them, don't get me wrong. But do I need them? No. I know I don't. I have the other two patterns I am trying to collect, Taylor, Smith & Taylor Boutonniere and Temporama. Plus all the other Pyrex, Fire King and so on. So I'm torn. What should I do? Keep them? Keep the pieces I want and split up the sets? Sell as sets? Sell as seperate pieces? Craiglist, Ebay, Etsy? I worry about trying to ship these if I go the Ebay or Etsy route. What would you do?

Let me show you a couple close-ups. There are two patterns & brands. The creamer on the left says "Noritake China Bluebell 5558 Japan" on the bottom.



The sugar dish(?) and platter say "Harmony House Mary 3835 Japan" on the bottom. There is nothing on them except the strips of silver.



For the Bluebell I have:
4 teacups
teapot
sugar dish(?)
creamer
6 plate type things (I don't know what to call them, there is a picture below).



For the Mary pattern I have:
large bowl
platter
sugar dish(?)
creamer
gravy boat
7 teacups
8 saucers (5.5 in. across)
8 plates (7.5 in. across)
7 plates (10 in. across)
8 bowls (almost 6.5 in. across)


(Here is the photo of those "plates")



So, if you don't mind, let me know what you think I should do with these! :)