What Have I Done?

I am insane. Insane, I tell you. I went to Lowes and bought 20 new drawer pulls for the kitchen cabinets. They look very sleek and contemporary... not usually my style, but I've been watching so much HGTV that I'm convinced my house will never sell with its current "country" decor. I do like the knobs though, and they were only 97c apiece so I got them.

Keep in mind I'm throwing a wedding shower in a week. One Week. And it's at my house.

So I told my husband to put the baby down to bed and get ready to help me unload the kitchen cabinets because I'm going to wash them down, sand them, prime them, and paint them (two coats).

Yes, I have gone completely, utterly insane.

We now have food, glasses, plates, silverware, pots, pans, vases, cookbooks, and a heap of other things piled in the dining room and living room. My husband doesn't know it yet because he went to bed before I did, but I also emptied the entire cabinet of plastic containers into the playpen. It filled up the entire playpen. I need to get rid of some of this crap.

The good news is our local Volunteers of America is in desperate need of donations because they had a mercury spill the other day and had to throw away everything in the store (even the racks). Wait, nevermind. I can't believe I just called that "good news." Ugh. I cringe thinking of all that going to the landfill. And it wasn't one of those little stores either; it was a really big one.

Anyway...

I forgot to mention that I still am not done cleaning the grout on the bathroom floor (though thankfully the shower is done so we are able to shower at home again).

Pray for me this week. And don't expect to hear from me much for the next seven days. I will be busily tearing apart my kitchen and putting it back together.

Chickening out

I'm worried that if I were to paint my kitchen cabinets blue, I would turn off potential buyers when we put our house on the market in a few years. I would hate to paint them blue for my taste, but then turn around and paint them white a few years later so that the house would sell easier. *Sigh* I think I'll just go with white cabinets. Not that that's a bad thing of course! I absolutely love white painted furniture. I'm quite shabby chic :)

Here's some inspiration.

Kitchen Cabinet Makeover

My mom hates painted wood. We've gone round and round through the past decade about it, since I love white furniture. She loves oak.

I hate oak.

If I have to have the real wood finish showing through, I like cherry or maple pretty well, and even a rustic pine is nice. But oak is just fugly.

I have wanted to paint my kitchen cupboards since moving into this house seven years ago, but was worried that if I did, I would never hear the end of it. The other day, she gave me the green light. She said that my house is twenty years old, and so I could paint the cabinets to give them a bit of an update. Woot, woot! I am so excited.

I am thinking of having a painting party, and y'all are invited. And by that I mean, how about you come over and clean and paint my cabinets?

Here's some pictures of kitchens I like. I always assumed I would go with a creamy white, but lately I've been thinking I'd like blue cabinets. My appliances are white, and the walls are faux finished with a tuscan plaster effect. I just can't decide on the paint color. What do you think?

An interesting Coincidence

I was just looking at a photo of the tombstone of Joel Shumaker, my great-great-great grandfather and the namesake of my son, and I realized that he passed away on the same day as my son was due. Joel Shumaker died on February 26, 1887 when he crossed the railroad tracks in front of a train. He was struck and instantly killed. What's especially sad is that Joel didn't die alone that day. Let me explain.

His son (my great-great grandfather)'s name was Albert, and Albert was married to Ella Rose Smith. Ella's father also was struck and killed with Joel on that fateful day. I can't imagine losing both my father and my father-in-law in the same accident.

Cottage-y Cotton for my Cookie Cutters

I was inspired by Tabiboo to make a drawstring bag for my cookie cutters. I had them sitting in a basket on the ledge until the ant infestation a couple weeks ago. My husband went a little nuts-o with the bug spray and got it all over everything, so we had to wash all the cookie cutters and utensils that were sitting out on the counter. I finally got them washed today and was able to put them into these two cute bags. (I only meant to make one for them all to fit into, however it turned out a little smaller than I had imagined).


Thank you Tabiboo for the inspiration :)

For Girls' Eyes Only

Hello ladies. Today I want to talk to you about breast pumps. If you aren't interested in breast milk and don't want to hear how I think I broke a world record in milk production today, then you can scroll down and read about a blanket binding I sewed yesterday.

I heart my Lansinoh double electric breast pump. If you're in the market for one, this one's the one to buy. My son won't latch on to the breast, so I have to pump the milk and feed him in a bottle. I really don't mind because that means my husband can partake in some of the middle-of-the-night goodness. I just jab him in the ribs, tell him it's his turn about three times, and voila, he's up and at 'em.

Today I slept in a little later than normal. I didn't get up until 8-something, and I hadn't pumped since 10:30 PM. About 11 hours of not emptying the breast is not a good thing. They felt like bricks. I think I could have broken a window with them. I couldn't pump right away either because Joel was hungry and crying, so I had to feed him first. Then I realized the pump parts had been rinsed last night but not washed thoroughly. By the time I started pumping, it was 9:05. In twenty minutes, I had pumped 12 ounces. 12 ounces in twenty minutes has to be some kind of world record, people. And that's not even taking advantage of the fact that I have a double breast pump. I broke a part the other day so I can only use one flange, so I can only pump one breast at a time.

Speaking of broken parts... I got on their website, and the part I broke was 90 cents. I about fell out of my chair with disbelief. But don't worry; they made up for it in shipping and handling. They wanted over 7 bucks to ship something just a little bigger than a quarter. I decided to buy several extra parts for the pump just in case I break or lose something else. I ended up buying five bucks worth of parts, and the shipping stayed the same.

Just in case you're totally enthralled with breast pumping and would like to see graphs on my progress, you're in luck. (Yes, I am one of those moms). Below is how much I have pumped each day for about the past month. Each color represents a pumping session. You can see that lately, I usually have pumped only four times a day. I figure if I am getting the right amount of milk in just four pumping sessions, why pump more?



The other graph is how many ounces my son eats in a day (what's going on with that sixteenth day?). During the first month of his life (not shown), I had to give him more formula, however as you can see, he barely needs to eat formula at all now. I am still using the free sample cans, though I am on the third and final one. (Luckily my sister-in-law gave me two, and my hospital gave me one so I have plenty).


Ok, as promised for those of you who just want to read about sewing... another blanket binding project. My mom kept all my thirty-year-old blankets, however they were in sorry shape. She gave me four big boxes of my and my brother's baby stuff when she found out we were pregnant, but alot of it needed a facelift, like this striped blanket below.

I didn't know that they actually sell blanket binding already made until about a month ago when I thrifted a bag of vintage sewing stuff, and several packages of it was inside. Woot, woot! That made it a heck of a lot easier, and it turned out so much better than the one I did a few months back.

Here's some of the blanket bindings I got in that thrifted bag o' goodies.

The finished product.

Bunny Ears and Lots of Tears

Today I decided to make Joel some bunny ears. Yes, Easter was two days ago. That's the story of my life, folks. Two days late and a dollar short.

They were really easy to sew since I used felt. Not just any felt... felt I already had lying around the house! Another craft project to use up the stash. Yay :)

I used a hat that fits him as a template, but I made it a little larger since the felt doesn't have as much give as his hat. When assembling the ears, I used pipe cleaners inside so that the ears would be positionable. As it turns out, they were pretty heavy and would not have held up on their own. That was okay though since he was laying down for his photo shoot.

Why does my mom torture me so?

No self respecting two month old should be caught dead in a bunny suit...