Cuteness and tutorials I've found...




















Super cute mushroom table and chairs from The Gypsy Wagon.

Cutest Hat Ever from She Wears Flowers.

From In Between Laundry a cute idea to make no-slip socks.

Good reads of 2010

I love to read...  When I was a kid my mom would take me to the library and I'd get a big pile of books.  A few days later when I'd read them all, I'd beg her to take me back.  I'm still reading, and thought I'd share some faves.  Here's 2009's list, and here's my 2010 list.  Enjoy!!!

Such a Pretty Face and Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb, she's SO good.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

Bread Alone by Judith R. Hendricks

True Colors by Kristin Hannah

The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen

The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson

The Thing about Jane Spring by Sharon Krum

Favorite Reads of 2009...

The Last Time I Was Me and Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb

Water for Elephants by Gruen

Hand of Isis by Jo Graham

The Night Villa by Carol Goodman 

The Sugar Queen and Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum books are all laugh out loud funny)

and the best...  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  

Enjoy!

The Evolution of a Mother

A week or so after giving birth I started wondering what the heck I'd gotten myself into... Peep's a bit colicky.  I wanted to go out to the movies and out to dinner and go to China and Belize and go get chai tea whenever I wanted.  But then at some point along the way I quit worrying about what I was missing and started enjoying my new responsibilities, started enjoying Peep's smiles and quit minding so much when she cried and just focused on making her happy again.  I started feeling like a mom.

This Monday Hubs watched Peep while I went to get a pedicure.  I had a terrible time getting out the door.  I said goodbye and kissed her little chubby cheeks several times before I FINALLY left.

I'm making sure to enjoy cuddling her and take time to rub my cheek on her fuzzy, lovely smelling little head.  She's not going to be little for very long, she weighed 11 lbs. 11 oz. yesterday and she's already 11 weeks old!

According to baby books, Peep's been sleeping through the night since she was about 3 weeks old, which means sleeping 4-6 hours at a time.  So not my idea of "through the night"!!  She was going to sleep at 7 or 8 and then eating between 12 - 2 a.m.  then going a couple hours before eating again. Last week she slept from 8pm to 5am several times, but she's reverted back to the old schedule... Before I know it she will be sleeping through the night by regular definition and I bet I will miss our sleepy middle of the night feedings.

We went to  see Hubs's family last week.  Peep was a gem on the trip out and was good throughout the week, napping better in the truck (diesel, very loud and vibrate-y) and at the cabin than she ever does here at home!  

Here was the highlight of the trip for me...  Peach cream cheese pie with fresh peaches (be still my heart) from Tiffany's, a little Amish restaurant...  No offense family, it was REALLY GOOD PIE!!

Rainy Monday...

Lovely print from Katie M. Berggen Art & Design.




We watched Son of Rambow this weekend. I wasn't sure how it would be, but it was good and not too sappy. Great little actors!

Hoppy belated Easter!

These guys are a riot...

Iron Man vs Bruce Lee @ Yahoo! Video

Check this out, a great little stop motion animation. :D

I'm feeling so frustrated today and my neck and shoulders are so tense I'm surprised my arms aren't clapping over my head like a wind up monkey.

Speaking of monkeys... I talked to my older bro last night and he said my niece was up in the middle of the night recently, talking at the top of her voice about monkeys and monster trucks. heh heh... She is one cool little kid.

Good stuff...

My friend Cristi got me this book and it looks hilarious... I think this is just what I needed because the author Stephanie Wilder-Taylor has a comedic approach to parenthood which is a breath of fresh air after all the many many MANY do's and do not's in other parenting books. Cristi - you are the bees knees!

Thursday...

Work in progress... Here's a pic of the tree skirt I'm working on finishing. I still need trim for the edge, but I'll get that this weekend when my mom and I go shop for fabric for crib bumpers and curtains for the baby's room!


I finally broke down and ordered this book. I've been coveting it for a year now. :) I just got it today and I'm stoked to make the turtles shown in here (click here to see). My goal is to make a stack of 3 for the nursery... We'll see... :D

Thinking ocean thoughts...

Seaside memories from House of Six Cats.

White Beach Glass Nugget from Sophia Pip.

Marilyn dress from Ureshii...

And have I mentioned that I love Confessions of a Pioneer Woman?

Cupcake

Here's a hilarious take on the "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters from Jenny's Bake Shop. I love it!

Also check out this video of this Ukelele playin' girl, she's fantastic! I saw this on Loobylu and had to pass it along.

Eucalyptus

Neat eucalyptus earrings from Contagious.

Sorry I've been less than bloggy lately. I'm a bit of a moody blogger, sometimes I'm all about it and then I just can't find the motivation to do it for a while. :)

We watched Iron Man last night for the second time. I like that movie. I think Robert D. Jr. did a surprisingly good job. I didn't expect him to make a good action hero, but he really did.

Movies...

C and I watched Dan in Real Life the other night.... This was one of those movies where the main character behaves so oddly that I'm completely uncomfortable for them. Not unlike this movie.

I loved this song from the movie. Tell me you can listen to this and not shake your booty. I won't believe you, but go on and tell me. :D

Hellboy....

So we went to see Hellboy 2 last night. I really liked it. Fantastic eye candy (ie. they visit the Troll Market). It had more of the same cheese factor that I loved about the first one and lots of great action sequences. All in all, two thumbs up!

Can't wait..

I want to go see Hellboy 2!! I loved the first one... It's action packed flick with an interesting story line. You can't help but love Hellboy. Can't wait to see the second!

Lovely weekend....

I rented Penelope, which was a very lovely movie, gorgeous colors, sets, costumes. The movie was sweet, but seemed a bit short to me; I would have liked more character development. More of her friendship with Annie and the bartender, etc. Picky picky, right?

Saw Mamma Mia. Mamma Mia is set in Greece so there's gorgeous scenery mixed with fun Abba songs, terrible singing by Pierce Brosnan and cheesy acting by all in the cast. Cute fluffy movie. :)

Pooch and I went mountain biking Sunday. It was HOT! I'd stop at any puddle or stream so he could lay down in an attempt to cool off. The path I like to take we go by a little pond that he likes to jump into. So after taking his swim he was doing his customary "drying off" by rolling around in the grass. He was right on the edge of the pond, head downhill, getting precariously close to falling in. I warned him, but... BLOOP, in he went. haha! Kinda slid in head first and then somersaulted around. Kooky dog.

Stuff to check out

Eight ways to make a million from MSN Money. I would LOVE to make a million, then I'd be free to art and craft and garden my days away.... *sigh**

Speaking of gardening, I've been having some iffy hair days lately and I have finally figured out how to make my hair look better. After a long bad hair day, I go hoe like a crazy woman in the garden for 1/2 hr to an hour and VOILA my hair is full and nicely curly. Just wish I could get the look without ending up stinking.

CB2- Crate and Barrel 2. Super cute stuff, like this green desk. You have to add the file cabinet to get the full effect, which puts it way out of my spending limit, but it's super cute nonetheless. :D

Nothing to Declare by Mary Morris

After reading Eat Pray Love, I was excited to read another travel/personal discovery story. I picked Nothing to Declare by Mary Morris and was hugely disappointed. She had a lot to declare on how annoying the people she was hanging out with were, how lonely she was, how annoying it was of her boyfriend to take care of her like he did. If whining every 5 pages that she was lonely, so lonely, made this a journey of self discovery then I'd like to inform you I'm an uncle! To these monkeys. Aren't they cute?

Golden monkey
Originally uploaded by floridapfe.

She found the boyfriend in San Miguel, Mexico after being there for a few weeks. She kept going to stay with him in Mexico City, where she would complain about hating it in his apartment. After traveling around Central America and nearly going to Panama with a man she meets, she goes back to her boyfriend's place in Mexico City and once again is a miserable P.I.T.A. They part on less than stellar terms and she goes back to San Miguel. Then when he doesn't show up for a planned visit she goes into paroxysms of woe. She keeps asking her neighbor Lupe (who is struggling to feed her children) if he has left her. GOOD GRIEF.

I suppose I finished the book because I thought perhaps her journey of self discovery would make her a better person. Instead it just ended with her coming back to the US.

SKIP THIS BOOK and read Eat Pray Love instead!

Catherine Ledner's Animals

Could this picture be any cuter?? Check out more of Catherine's Animals here. I found her work on Decor8 - a wonderful blog, full of decor ideas, career advice for creatives, etc.

Outdoor Flicks - Kansas City...

Nothing better than summertime and watching free movies in the great outdoors!

Kansas City Public Library Off The Wall Film Series

City Market Cinema

Movies at Briarcliff Village

You can find more here.