January 22, 2012

The 12 Dates of Christmas - January

You may recall that one of the homemade gifts under the tree this year included some time alone (kind of) for the Mom and Dad at The House Where We Live.  Every month Kole has an envelope to open.  Inside is a date idea.  He picks the day and time, I arrange the sitter & make any final plans for the date.

January’s date: return to the coffee shop where we had our first date.  This time, instead of trading family histories & laughing nervously while downing our 11th cups of bottomless coffee, we planned some landscaping and gardening projects for the spring. 

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We decided to triple our raised bed gardens, make 2 different mulched, landscaped butterfly gardens around some existing trees, and start saving to put in a patio.

Ezra was a big help.

January 21, 2012

!Ay Dios!

Okay, Blogger is KILLIN’ me with this inability to make international characters i.e. type correctly in Spanish.  I am stickler for spelling and grammar (though some posts on here do not evidence this). 

So the reference to God in the title?  Ezra got baptized. Welcome to the family, little guy!

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Godfathers and us…

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And an Angel Food Cake for  my angel…

January 20, 2012

More thrifting.

Or, more appropriately titled the, “I didn’t know we did THIS MUCH thrifting until I started cataloging it” post.  Here are our latest treasures.

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Favorite scores – first, the hacienda cardigan.  Seriously, as a Spanish teacher, could I really pass this up?  I’m imagining it with a t-shirt and jeans or a skirt and boots – maybe a scarf! Ooh la la! Wait, that’s French, let’s try a muy bien instead.

Also on my list of favs are the pink sweatpants below.  They are a size 8.  Maggie is almost 3. Hmmm… but they’re Mini Boden which I do love, and we’ve got bins in the basement for storage…

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Total today: $7.50

January 19, 2012

I am a working mom.

Call me crazy, but I'm looking forward to going back to work in a tomorrow.  I'm not excited about the chaos I anticipate as we try to find our rhythm again as a family after 3 months of being home, and I'm not excited to be spending less time with the ninos, but I am excited to get back to something that I love.

I have known since I was a very little girl that I would be a teacher. I started playing school at age 3, and I never stopped.  Okay, so there was that first semester of college where I was "undecided" because I wanted to make more money than teachers make.  I  declared an education major by the end of that first semester, and I have never regretted it.  I was born to do this.  I am at my best professionally and personally when I am teaching.

Given the crazy political climate in the state, it's been really tempting to quit.  I could take my skills and head elsewhere. But it's not just the money or benefits that keep me where I'm at.  It's the personal fulfillment that I find in what I have chosen to do with my life. The fact of the matter is that I feel most worthwhile when I'm working with kids.

I can encourage kids to try something new, to think differently about the world, to be kinder, to work harder, to live life more fully.  I can help them communicate, collaborate, investigate and reflect.  I can provide them with information and encourage discussion.  I can answer their questions, or help them explore solutions to problems.  I love doing all these things, and I can and have done them with my own kids.  But I have missed doing them on a larger scale over the past 3 months.

I am a teacher, and I'm headed back to my home-away-from-home.  Wish me luck!

January 12, 2012

Slow day. Snow day.

As the full days spent at home come to an end, I find myself trying to take in as much of our little guy as I can.  Maggie’s off playing with pals at “school”, and it’s amazing how quiet the house is.  And although I miss her insights like , “Mom, guess what we forgot to do today?  Play the iPad!” and “I have a secret…a ferris wheel is the same as a carrousel… just bein’ silly,” it’s nice to have the chance to enjoy some alone time with Ezra. 

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We’ve laughed, we’ve cried.  We’ve done our tummy time and had a snack.  We played a little peek-a-boo, and gurgled and cooed.

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We blew some bubbles, too.  Hopefully it’ll be naptime soon!

January 11, 2012

After 5 years of searching, I finally found it!

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So here’s the skinny on thrifty adventure #2 (also, I will probably stop numbering them after this because it could get embarrassing in a few months when we’re on thrifty adventure #156, and it’s only March)!  I went to Goodwill, St Vinnys, and 2 other local haunts. 

Maggie scored big this trip with a bunch of doll stuff – she is the proud mama of my Cabbage Patch dolls – Caren Lotti, Lorelei Donna, and Lara Cleo.  Sadly, I did not have to find their “birth certificates” to tell you that. She also got a dress and skirt from Children’s Place, and a brown corduroy jumper from the Gap.

Ezra got a sweater from Gymboree (to be packed away for next year).

I got some back-to-school items to be used in the near future as this whole maternity leave deal comes to a close.  I also got a magazine, and that black picture frame hiding in the back is part of the aforementioned photo install in the bedroom.

The piece-de-resistance (I am saying that a French accent) is that black embroidered thing in the back.  A floor-length, latin-inspired dress.  This is not for every day wear, mind you.  I have a little obsession with Frida Kahlo.  I have been to all her houses in Mexico City along with several museums that house her paintings.  I have traveled to Chicago and Minneapolis to see expositions of her work, I even have 3 graduate credits in Frida Kahlo art.   And, yes, I know she was kooky and crass and some might argue a little ‘off’.  But she was a pioneer.  She was a feminist before feminism.  She was a strong-willed, independent woman.  I just find her completely fascinating.  And so, for the past 5 years or so, I’ve wanted to be her for Halloween, and/or two other times during the year that we study her work comes in class.  I bought long wigs several years ago.  I’ve got some jewelry, but I never had the dress.  And now, well, look out come October!

January 10, 2012

Maggie’s Room Redo

Are you ready to get the low-down on Maggie’s room redo?  We started painting in January of last year – before we knew we’d be welcoming little brother into our midst.

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The colors for the room were based on a comforter I got at Goodwill.  It was new from Target’s Liberty of London line.  You can see it on her bed here (it’s a full-size, so it’s folded in half).

Kole painted her table and chairs to match (blue chair is MIA as of this picture).

I sewed curtain panels from a roll of white fabric I got at an estate sale for $2.  If you’ve gotten a quilt from me in the last 3 years, chances are the base fabric was from this.  I bought ribbon from JoAnn’s to match the colors of her room to adorn the panels.  In retrospect, I’d have made the panels on the larger window about double as wide, but I’ll file that away for when we redecorate this room in the (distant) future.

The picture hanging between the two windows is a poster of the ABC’s found in nature.  We bought it at the Sertoma Butterfly House in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on our honeymoon.  It hung in the office at our old house, and we were happy to repurpose it in Maggie’s room.

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The table and chairs were a score from an estate sale awhile back.  The play kitchen from that post was resold for $20 (a $5 profit!) when I spotted the gems in this picture on Craigslist.  The bunk beds, oven, sink and refrigerator were a steal at $30!  Kole painted the fridge door with magnetic paint before we covered everything in white. 

The pink hamper in front of the bunk beds was a find from an antique store in a nearby town.  The basket next to the stove holds play food & is something we’ve used in different capacities for many years.  The pink bin next to the fridge was free from a neighbor and works to corral all of Maggie’s dress up.

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This picture houses some of my favorite items.  The tall white shelf on the left was a thrift store purchase. $1.98.  Seriously.  Add some white paint and we’re in business.  The long white shelf came from an estate sale.  The lamp, which has a partner across the room, was an auction buy many years ago.  $5 for the pair.  I recovered the shades in scrap fabric, and voila! New lamps!  The rocking chair came from the same SCORE day as the table and chairs, and I made the pouf pillow from a thrifted tablecloth.  The book poster was a gift from friends, and with a new matte, works well in an IKEA frame I’ve had since 1999.  The rug was on clearance at Target.

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I really wanted a girly metal bed frame.  I found this one and its twin on Craigslist for $50.  I sold the other one for $40, bringing the cost of this frame to $10.  The mattress was also from Craigslist – no worries, it was well vetted before purchase and came with a hypo-allergenic, waterproof cover.  The dresser was rescued at auction and refinished when we were at our old house.  The embroidery hoop name art was finished right before Ezra was born. The metal garbage can was found at a garage sale.

Wall paint appx. $35

Comforter $14.99

Table and chairs $5

Paint for furniture $35

Curtains & ribbon – $10

Play kitchen $30

Antique doll clothes caddy $12

White shelves $11.98

Rocking chair $5

Poster matte $12

Pouf pillow $3.48

Rug $20.98

Lamps $5

Bedframe $10

Mattress $25

Embroidery hoop art $3

Garbage can $2

Clock & poster (not pictured) $14

Total $254.43