A Half-Day In the Life With 2 Kids

I won't bury the lead. The worst thing about having 2 kids is how much laundry we're having to do these days. The rest of the hard things I realize are only a phase.

Kennedy and I don't really like to post "bad" things pertaining to our kids. For me, I don't want it to ever be misconstrued that I don't enjoy my kids. I also don't want to give people the wrong idea about what kind of kids they are. They're amazing kids who do amazing and adorable things, who are also human and do "bad" things every once in a while too. So there's that for anyone who was wondering.

Anyway, if you're wanting to know what it's like having 2 kids now (11 weeks and 1 day in), here it is!

7:15 am - I woke up in Savannah's room. I'm so thankful we have a bed in there. She's been congested the last few days, so I've ended up sleeping in her room every night around the 3rd time she wakes up to eat. You read that right - THE THIRD TIME.

I hear a loud BANG BANG BANG followed by our idiot dog barking to be let out of our room. Kennedy left for work earlier and shut them in there.

When I get up and go in our room, there's an overwhelming smell of dog poo. Check all corners and find it politely placed atop a pile of clothes Kennedy intends to take to the dry cleaners. Also, where there's poo, there's pee. I clean it up.

7:30 am - Take a shower and get dressed before I go get Campbell up. He's been awake for about 30 min, but thankfully he just lays in his crib talking/singing til someone comes and gets him.

8:30 am - We finally make it all the way downstairs (after getting everyone dressed/feeding Savannah) to get breakfast for C & me, and treats for the dogs.

Cece barfs on the floor. I clean it up.

Savannah goes to sleep in the swing for a couple of hours and Campbell and I spend time playing, watching Cookie Monster videos on YouTube, Facetiming Stephanie and Audrey, and doing stickers.

10:45 am - Feed Savannah while Campbell watches Sesame Street. Thank you, Lord, for Sesame Street (and PBS Kids in general.)

11:15 am - After packing up some snacks for C, I've decided we will go on a walk. (Thanks Stephanie, for the inspiration!) Campbell agreed to sit in the stroller, and I carry Baby S in the K'Tan. Zac Brown Band station on Pandora, hiyo!

Off we go. Oh look over there, Campbell! Look at that giant bird - OH MY G-- nevermind! Look away! Look at that tree over there!

(At this point, I witnessed the murder of a live chipmunk by what I believe was a broad-winged hawk. You better believe I googled Indiana birds of prey to identify the culprit.)

At any rate, I will never be able to get the image of a live chipmunk squirming for dear life in this hawk's talons - being carried to its nest atop a neighbors chimney.

Later in the walk I was attacked by a bee or wasp. LITERALLY ATTACKED. It tried to burrow into my ponytail several times, despite my incessant shrieking and swatting. I ended up sprinting down the sidewalk wearing Savannah in the K'Tan and pushing Campbell in the stroller.

When things settled down, I looked back and there was a woman watching the whole thing, probably thinking I was some crazy person who had kidnapped 2 kids and taken them for a stroller joy-ride.

That settles it, I'm not meant to be active or work out in any capacity.

12:00 pm - Get home, finish feeding lunch to Campbell, get Pioneer Woman's Dr Pepper Pulled Pork going in the crock pot. I. Am. Superwoman!!!

12:30 pm - Mid-feeding of Savannah, my legs start to feel warm. I look down and she has that glazed over look in her eye. Then I hear it.

So now I can add getting pooped on to my list: "Bodily Fluids I've Had To Clean Up Today That Do Not Belong To Me".

The bright side is that 3 days ago, Campbell threw up all over the couch, so I took off every tufted cover and washed them. I swore off bare couches after that, so there were blankets draped over everything. It's SO much easier to wash a blanket than a tufted couch cushion, lemmetellyou.

So, bathtime it is. Upstairs we all go! (And have you had to get a toddler anywhere in a hurry? It doesn't happen. Unless your hands are full and you're in a parking lot or next to a busy street. Then all of a sudden they're an Olympic-caliber sprinter.)

Savannah gets a bath and some clean clothes while Campbell watches SuperWhy and eats Cheerios on our bed. (Did I already thank the Lord for PBS Kids?)

Carry Savannah over to our bed to find Campbell pulling all the wipes out of the wipes container one-by-one. UGH. I hate when he does that. Rookie mistake for leaving them within reach.

But OH MY GOSH, all that poop and pee and throw up is worth it, because this:

Unsolicited, Campbell crawls across the bed to Savannah and lays his head on her belly. After a reminder for him to be gentle fell on deaf ears, I had to pull that love-muffin off his sister and those pictures happened.

12:50 pm - NAP TIME. Read a book. Campbell's down. Boom.

1:00 pm - NAP TIME. Rock this girl. Say some SHHHHs. Savannah's down. BOOM.

Go downstairs. Eat a sandwich. Turn on House M.D. Savannah's awake (15 minutes. New record!)

Aaaaaand that's a half-day in the life with 2 kids now. It's rough. It's exhausting. It's hilarious and infuriating. It's a circus over here!

20 things to do while you wait to have a baby

In case you missed it, I'm still pregnant. No, I'm not overdue. My due date is next Wednesday. But I feel like I should've had a baby by now. I mean, other people around me are just sneezing and going into labor early, (I'm looking at you, Kara L.)

But you know what? That just gives me more time to "get ready" for this baby - a.k.a. do things to fill my time. Here's my list, that I continue to add to every day.

1. Pluck my eyebrows - (Wouldn't you know it? Pregnancy really does make your eyesight worse. Guess I haven't gotten that close to a mirror in a while.)

2. Wipe all the kitchen cabinets and baseboards down with clorox wipes.

3. Clean out and reorganize every single closet in the house (11 total!)

4. Make a list of all the dinners I know how to cook.

5. Take remnants from an unfinished sweater knitting project of my late grandmother's (Lita) and stitch them together for a very sentimental baby blanket.

6. Measure, level, tape and paint stripes on the wall in the half bathroom.

7. Coax the husband into building shelves for the half bathroom.

8. Spoil/snuggle/read to/ do as many fun things as possible with your firstborn while he still has  undivided attention. (Including, but not limited to giving him almost anything he wants and making a big deal out of small finger injuries and also rocking him like a baby.)

9. Use this Pinterest stain remover recipe to get stains out of a huge load of baby laundry. (P.S. It really works!!!)

10. Take aforementioned baby clothes and dye them all new colors to more appropriately fit into a girl's wardrobe.

11. Cook dinner every night this week!

12. Get a pedicure.

13. Write and mail some thank you notes.

14. Sell a bunch of your stuff that was previously taking up room in all those closets you cleaned out a few days ago (HELLO fun money!)

15. Start 2 new shows to marathon watch (The Good Wife and Bates Motel, if you're wanting some new shows to start!)

16. Deep clean all the bathrooms in your house!

17. Mentally redecorate your master bedroom.

18. Shower twice a day (Why even? This has quadrupled my weekly average!)

19. EAT A BUNCH WHILE YOU STILL CAN (aka Carb-load.)

20. Organize all baby clothes by size, then type of clothing (including making labels for other people to follow.)

Nursery Reveal!

I'M DONE.

Now to just sit and wait for the actual baby to get here! I might even have a little time left to make some DIY baby headbands or DIY baby onesies. Or sleep.

Anyway friends, here's this girl's nursery (unless she turns out to be a boy, in which case I'll have some tweaking to do.) I'll (mostly) let pictures speak for themselves. Also, expect to read some bragging on my part, since I DIY'd a lot of this nursery like an insane person.

I made the bedding myself. The skirt is an antique quilt top (unfinished quilt) that I got on Etsy. I took part of it apart and backed it with an old white sheet I already had. It's in 3 pieces (the front panel, and 2 shorter side panels.) I still have a ton leftover to use elsewhere. 

I also made 2 crib sheets from clearance fabric at JoAnn. All together, the bedding cost well under $50.

OH YEAH, and I knitted that coral baby blanket AND made a new boppy cover. 

(For the record, I'm bragging because I put a lot of work into the nursery, not because I think it's better than any other nursery.)

Here's an iphone pic of the crib with the other sheet I made, in case you were wondering what it looked like!

Here's a little hanging rack that Kennedy and I made. It's just a piece of antique stamped tin that we hammered around a 1x4, then screwed some mismatched knobs into it. The tin came from Kennedy's mom, the knobs came from Hobby Lobby.

I painted this antique dresser with Annie Sloan's chalk paint and replaced the knobs with some glass pulls from Hobby Lobby. 

I sewed the changing table cover (easiest sewing project of the entire nursery!)

Above the table is an old trough that was previously attached to an antique window frame I've had forever. It stuck out pretty far from the wall when it was attached to the window, so didn't fit in a lot of places. I finally figured out I could just unscrew them from each other and this became the perfect thing to hang in the big blank space above the changing table. 

I painted the flowers inside so it would have the look of a flower box. Probably going to use the inside of that shelf to keep certain things out of reach of C (diaper creams, etc.)

Also, I attached a bunch of hooks to the underside so now I have a place to keep baby headbands!

I brought C's little yellow rocker in here so he would have a place to sit if he wanted. So far, he likes to come in here and move the chair to different spots in the room. Fine by me! Hopefully he'll be this good at entertaining himself for a bit when the baby comes.

My old Glenda the Good Witch figurine is perched over the crib. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour! Leave a comment if you have any questions!

Baby Girl Nursery Mood Board

Guess what! I'm a little over 6 weeks away from my due date, which simultaneously seems forever away and way too close for comfort. Pregnancy this time around isn't such a walk in the park, which, if you've spent any amount of time in my presence lately, you've heard me complain.

I'm sure I can attribute most of the discomfort and exhaustion to this little 2 year old bundle of joy.

C's 2nd birthday - He loves having the 'Happy Birthday' song sung to him.

The nursery is well under way, but I haven't really shared any of what we're doing yet. Mostly because I was just gonna quit blogging all together, but then when I tried to pick out fabrics, I realized I just needed to make a mood board or something so I can organize my vision.

I've never made a mood board before, but I see them all over Pinterest, so why not give it a go??

First, let's start with what this room looked like before it went into the nursery transition. 

This was just one of our guest rooms before. And before the walls were mud colored, they were actually pepto bismol pink! So really all I did in there before was paint. Glad I didn't do much else because we ended up changing everything, but also, I wish I had because this is usually the room my Mother-in-law stays in when she visits, and it wasn't all that cute. :-/

Now behold, my very first ever mood board!!!

I'm feeling kind of awkward about naming a nursery theme, but whatevs. YOLO. The paint color we chose is Cactus Blossom by Olympic from Lowe's. Reads a little more minty at night, but it could be the lightbulbs we have? The color on the board is pretty true to real life during the day.

1) Martha Stewart Sunburst Mirror from Home Depot - can be found here. Already had this in our bedroom before we moved, but couldn't make it work in this house. Works perfectly with some of the other accents I'll be putting in the room.

2) Prints from Katie Daisy's Etsy shop - TheWheatfield - I am obsessssssssed with everything in this shop. I want to plaster all the walls in my house with her watercolors. Kennedy probably definitely wouldn't allow that. I got 2 prints for Christmas from my Secret Santa Sister-in-law, Stephanie. Ordered a 3rd a couple of weeks ago and waiting on it to arrive...

3) Swivel Rocker/Recliner by Best Chairs Storytime Series - Can find a local vendor here. We bought ours from Decor4Kids (a local kids furniture store in Indy), and if you're in the area, BUY FROM THEM. The customer service was phenomenal. 

4) White Jenny Lind style crib by DaVinci - bought it on Amazon. Just arrived today, so it's still in the box. I'll let you know what I think about it...

5) Knit Pouf Ottoman - Walmart! Of all places. I haven't ordered this yet, but at only $39, I'm thinking I can't get too disappointed. I don't really need an ottoman, since the chair is a recliner, but I need a little more color, and this will allow me to rock while having my feet up. I'm not all that much of a fan of rocking ottomans, since I feel like you end up having to work harder...

I'm also going off of this nursery I found on Pinterest for the crib bedding, (hence the fabric swatches above.)

UPDATE: image via

For some reason I took a screenshot of the pin with my phone, but then forgot to Pin it, so I need to look for the original source. Still searching for that perfect floral pattern for the crib skirt. It's like a Holy Grail hunt, hence my need to mood board it.

Now on to some progress pictures!

Kennedy took down the old chair rail and installed our "signature" board and batten, that seems to show up in all our houses. Then he painted the top half with Olympic Cactus Blossom while I stayed in the other room and watched Once Upon A Time on Netflix.

This is the view from the door. The empty wall space is where the crib will go (for now). Still wrestling over the layout of the room, as I have insisted we have a full-sized bed in there. (It's a white antique iron bed frame that we already had, and I believe every nursery needs a bed if there is room for it. Can't tell you how many nights I ended up falling asleep in Campbell's nursery those first 6 months!)

C decided the room was missing a Halloween pumpkin full of matchbox cars.

Here's the antique Craigslist dresser that I repainted in Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Paris Grey. I replaced the knobs with some pink glass pulls from Hobby Lobby. This will be the changing table (gotta get that TV outta there...)

So that's what I have so far! I still need to find curtains, as well as THE PERFECT floral fabric for the crib skirt. I'm also making a little something to hang over the changing table, and planning on doing that this weekend while we're snowed in YET AGAIN. The rest is just hanging stuff on the walls! Then I can move on to organizing the closet and buying diapers and all the un-fun stuff that comes with preparing for a newborn.

Hope to be back soon with another update!

"Catching up...Gotcha...I caught you..up...I dunno"

Couldn't think of what to title this post, so I asked Kennedy. That title was his contribution. I love that guy.

BREAKING NEWS: 5 minutes ago, I deleted Candy Crush from my phone. I read this blog post from Lil Blue Boo and was like, yeah, Candy Crush is literally wasting hours of my life. Eff it! I'm gonna delete it. Then I did it right then and there before I could talk myself out of it.

Miracle of all miracles, here I am blogging again. Coincidence? I think not!

I actually have a lot of things to share as of late, in the form of multiple blog posts, but I've been completely unmotivated. Now I have one less excuse to not do anything.

First of all, we found out the gender of our baby on Monday. See if you can guess what the baby is by the end of this blog post!

Kennedy took C-buddy to the trampoline park on Friday morning. He took the day off for this. He was EXCITED. Then, when they got there, Campbell hurt his leg during a jump and they had to leave. It was devastating for Kennedy, because their fun plans got ruined. Then, devastating because C would no longer walk, and it appeared bearing any weight on his leg was extremely painful. So, our pediatrician referred us to an orthopedic clinic. An X-ray later, C is now rockin' a little blue boot.

Sad.

He's adjusting well, especially since we started referring to it as his Cookie Monster foot. He'll stomp his cast and say "Cookie foot! Cookie foot!" Oh, how I love that kid.

In other news, I've been spending my time hunched over my sewing machine this past week, in preparation for Halloween. Campbell will be a robot. Here's a sneak peek:

This is from earlier today. I wanted him to try it on to make sure it fit over his cast, and he wouldn't take it off. He even has the robot arm movements down.

I plan to write a separate blog post about his little costume and what I used to make it. Plus maybe some action shots. The whole thing cost a little under $10 which was a MAJOR plus to me.

ALSO, more stuff came up on my sewing to-do list, including, but not limited to, many many things for the new baby. I bought my first few yards of fabric for the little banana-sized fetus this week, so I can make some flannel receiving blankets. These are the only pieces I could find that didn't have ice skating penguins on them. I'm ready for the winter seasonal items to GO.

I'm obsessed with that science lab fabric up top.

This morning, my little family and I trekked out to Old Navy to begin buying ridiculous amounts of clothes for the baby. Clearance section HOLLA!

I'm also excited to learn how to make a lot of baby clothes. Maybe Santa will bring me a serger for Christmas? Maybe not, he was kind of a creep last year.

Normally, I highly protest infants wearing shoes. But then I saw those little gold sandals and I thought, "Self, it would be a sin not to buy these." And thou shalt not sin, amiright?

Can you guess what kind of baby I'm having?

5 Things About My Life Right Now

It's not that I don't care about my blog, I do. But there hasn't been much to blog about. We are kind of at a stopping point as far as house projects go (at least, until it's time to start on the new nursery.) So maybe I'll try to ease back into this by talking about my daily life. I promise, it's kind of boring. But maybe I need to do this in order to dispel the myth that I get to nap every day and do nothing the rest of the time.

Here's a fun list!

1. Still pregnant. (16 weeks on Wednesday, and we find out the gender in 4 weeks!)

Campbell knows what a baby is, and calls my belly "Baby," although I'm not sure if he has put the two together. I think he is going to have an adjustment period when it's time to share attention full time (and my heart will break into a million pieces over this.)

We spent this past weekend in DFW visiting my new niece (plus the rest of the family), and Campbell spent some significant time sharing attention with family babies (his cousin Olivia and cousin Graham.)

With cousin Graham

His reaction to the babies? Ignore them and maybe they'll go away. Or rather, ignore the person holding/caring for the baby. Apparently holding a baby renders one invisible in his eyes. He did give baby Olivia an unsolicited head-cuddle (putting his head down next to hers,) but it only happened once and he didn't want attention for it. Almost as if to say, "It's not you, it's them, Baby."

I got to hold sweet baby Olivia a BUNCH

Also, what is up with people not freaking out enough on my behalf that we are going to have 2 kids instead of just 1 in a few months?!?! I appreciate the vote of confidence (that's what I'll take it as, not that having a 2nd child is just considered old hat,) but DO YOU REALIZE WHAT WE ARE STEPPING IN TO HERE???

But seriously, thank you for not making a big deal about that aspect of having baby #2. It would probably only agitate me further. And by agitate me further, I mean, irritability is sure rearing its ugly head. I won't go into it, so as to keep that dragon chained up.

2. Grocery Shopping

Why do I wait until Monday morning to do my grocery shopping? Everything is in the process of being stocked, so I inevitably have to go back. Also, why do I wait until Monday morning to plan out our meals for the week? Oh yeah, because I'm a procrastinator and self-punisher.

BUT, this is the first week in many weeks months that I have made a menu and bought for it. Kennedy's going to be excited that we aren't having PBJs for dinner. That is, if I get around to cooking what I planned.

Campbell has a love/hate relationship with the grocery store. He loves it until he hates it, and then I have to run around with the cart like I'm a contestant on Supermarket Sweep.

He has figured out how to climb out of the cart seat and stand up. And homeboy has STRONG quad muscles, so there's no holding him down. Today I had to pull the cart over next to the "hispanic food" shelf while he stood up.

This kid is smart. He knows he's not supposed to stand in the cart, so in order to manipulate me into not forcing his little legs down, he reached over, put his arms around my head and started kissing my neck. Then I said, "You need to sit down," but he could tell I was crumbling, so he grabbed my head in his hands and started kissing my face. Then we just stood there for a couple of minutes while he smiled at me and gave me kisses so he could stand up in the cart. And of course I let him, because he refused to even look at me the whole weekend (see above: Baby Jealousy) so I'll take whatever I can get.

WHERE DID HE LEARN THIS TACTIC? He can have whatever he wants. What. Ever. He. Wants.

Skeleton tantrum

I finally got him to sit with no tears by bribing him with a mini light-saber flashlight that was on clearance. So I win? Uhhh...

3. Pulling Weeds

Our entire front yard is full of weeds. I have spent a few hours over the course of a few days pulling weeds. I'm still not done. But I pulled a bunch today. The End.

4. I'm a handy-woman!

I don't know about you, but I hate our sliding glass door. It's heavy and it gets stuck in the track and I have to use all my might to close it. The kind of might that causes a hernia.

I miss all our french doors at our old house (along with the rest of our old house, but we won't dwell.)

I fixed it today though. Wanna know how? Cooking spray. BOOYAH, WD40. You couldn't get the job done, but Olive Oil in an aerosol can could! Put that on Pinterest. Somebody.

5. Baby Monitor and Baby Daddy

Yesterday when we got home from Dallas, Kennedy plugged the baby monitor in and "the adapter started smoking and it was burning hot." Then all of a sudden, the monitor wouldn't charge and wasn't getting any power from the outlet.

I had a mini-meltdown in which I calmly stated that I couldn't properly care for our son if I couldn't see him while he was sleeping. Kennedy ignored my panic, which infuriated me further. But we finally decided to try just exchanging it at Buy Buy Baby, where we bought it almost a year ago.

I called them and said we didn't have a receipt, but that the monitor didn't work. They said, come on in, we'll give you an even exchange. Who does that? Buy Buy Baby does that. That's not the first time I've been impressed with their customer service, but it is worth mentioning that if you have one near you, you should shop there for all your baby needs.

I made Kennedy go in and do the exchange while C and I waited in the car because I'm a chicken. He's my hero.

Then we went to Target and Kennedy picked out adorable fall clothes for Campbell because he loves spoiling him. Then later, right after Kennedy did Campbell's bath and put him down for bed, he sat on the couch and watched videos of Campbell on his phone over and over because he missed him.

My point is not to show that Kennedy pretty much did everything for Campbell yesterday while I laid on the couch with a headache. It's to brag about how much my Baby Daddy loves C. And I hope one day Campbell will read my blog and see this and know that his Dada is obsessed with him.

6. That's all

See? Nothing to blog about.

News News News!

So, cat's outta the bag if you follow me on Instagram or are a Facebook friend (or real friend/family member) of mine.

I will say that this is the main reason I have been away from the blog so much this summer. Also, because travel. And busy. But mostly, because I was exhausted at the end of June and then found out on July 1 the real reason why (and it wasn't because of busy!)

I can't tell if this pregnancy is different from the first, because my life was different then. For one, I wasn't chasing a toddler around during the first pregnancy, which could explain why I've been feeling like I was hit by a truck for the past 3 months. (I think that stage is mostly over with now, thank goodness for the 2nd trimester!)

I was teaching back then also, so I think I was more mentally distracted from my exhaustion. So who knows? At this point, I am starting to feel like a real human being again, and that is the same.

Other similarities: Mood swings, general irritability, queasiness/nausea for about 6-7 weeks. (Other than the nausea, Kennedy says how is that a pregnancy symptom for you? Hilarious.) But Kennedy's been every bit as helpful, if not more this time around. I'm lucky he married me. No one else would put up with this crap.

Last week was my first week to feel almost 100% myself again, and then we got hit with a freight train of a stomach bug. First Kennedy, then Campbell. I think I've avoided it, but I do have a cold/scratchy throat now, so maybe it's a virus from the future that manifests itself differently in different people. I don't know, I'm not a microbiologist.

I realize I'm going out of order here, but it is worth mentioning that I doubled my collection of nieces a couple of weeks ago!

From the KC Zoo: C on the left, Niece #1 Audrey on the right lookin' all cute.

Niece #2: Olivia!

My nieces are the cutest. I still haven't had a chance to meet Olivia, but the time is nigh. We'll be flying down to meet her soon. Very soon.

THEN, at the end of September, my collection of nephews will double (again, from 1 to 2.) So basically, we're experiencing a baby boom in this family. I wonder who's pregnant right now and I don't know it yet? There's probably at least one of you out there reading this...

MEANWHILE (said in Fran Drescher's voice from The Nanny), I believe C is in my favorite and least favorite stage at this point. 

Right now he is the dirtiest, smelliest, whiniest, and sneakiest he's ever been. I am assuming it comes with the age.

He's also hilarious, and it's been amazing to learn more and more about him as a person every day. He's communicating better with his increased vocabulary, which has made things easier in many ways. However, now he knows how to say what he wants, and he's got a double dose of stubborn from his parents. So that's not always enjoyable.

But his smile continues to be the best; I live for that.

At any rate, I love that boy, and I'm lucky to be his Mama. I can't wait to see him as a big brother. (Well, actually I can wait a little bit; I have some prep to do before a baby is here...)

Today, I made this:

First craft in a while. *Pats self on back.*

IKEA HACK: My new kitchen table!

When Kennedy and I first got married, he literally had an antique wooden box full of hand-me-down tools. I don't think a single one of them required a battery or power cord. He had also never painted a wall before. (??? What?)

And now here we are, and he's a full-blown carpenter (in my loving eyes.) He spent the last two weekends building me a kitchen table and bench. How could I not brag about it on my blog? Especially since I haven't blogged in like, 5 weeks, and I can't think of anything else to write about at the moment.

I've been wanting a stainless steel-top table for a while now, but you know me. I'm unwilling to pay retail value for anything. So when I saw that IKEA had this table top, I knew Kennedy would jump at the chance to build it for me. It also meant he got to get a new power tool (a table saw), so he was more than happy to oblige.

Peek a boo! I spy our old kitchen table in the background. Someone needs to buy that thing on Craigslist.

Then he built me this bench, which I love. And apparently so does Campbell, because I've already caught him using it to parlay himself onto the table itself. So, parent fail for not recognizing that potential hazard upfront.

The chairs are from World Market, and you can find them here.

Campbell also likes to climb on those chairs, which means I will be investing in some scotch guard spray this week. Homeboy rarely is without dirt/food/crayons in his hands.

In other (more depressing) news, Kennedy cancelled our cable and it went off today. (See how I made him seem like the villain in this situation? I guess I agreed to it. Kind of.) So I bet I'll be spending a lot more time on the blog now. 

For 1 month. I give it 1 month.

redbox Etiquette

Kennedy and I rented a redbox DVD last night, (or "got a RedBox" for all you redbox veterans out there,) and had the normal conversation that usually follows. If you have been redboxing for a while now, you know the conversation.

"OMG, there was a person in front of me who was soooo slow. He went through the entire 30 pages of rentals, even the grayed out pages." (Because we now say OMG out loud in addition to typing it.)

or

"OMG, this lady read every synopsis in the romantic comedies before deciding, and then kept scanning her debit card upside down."

(via)

Yeah, nothankyou

This frustrates me usually, but last night I had an epiphany. I realized that the worst redbox offenders that I have come across are from the Block Buster generation. And this was how you rented movies 5-10 years ago.

We used to have a family tradition of going to Block Buster on a weekend night (usually after Braum's Ice Cream or something) and everyone went their separate ways to browse the rental selection. It was a great time, and it worked well for Block Buster.

Well, redbox ain't Block Buster, my friends! I have decided to compile a short quiz to help you determine whether or not you're a redbox amateur.

1. Do you know what movie you want to rent before you get to the front of the redbox line? (Yes/No)

2. Do you have the redbox app on your smartphone? (Yes/No)

3. Did you know that you can check availability/reserve a DVD before you even get to the kiosk? (Yes/No)

If you answered NO to any of these 3 questions, then you need to keep reading. If you answered YES to all, then you need to forward this blog post on to at least 5 people or you will be eaten alive after unknowingly stepping in a ground nest full of a rare wasp/hornet/ant hybrid species.

Now let's talk about redbox Etiquette. Follow these 3 easy steps and you will be a redbox Pro in no time! Membership benefits include getting hours of your life back, and feeling superior in the redbox line.

1. a) If you have a smartphone, download the redbox app. If you don't know what the 3 underlined words in that last sentence mean, take your cell phone to the nearest redbox kiosk and stand next to it. Wait for the next person who takes 1 minute or less to rent a video and they will help you download it. Trust me, they will be more than happy to help, as it is mutually beneficial to both of you.

b) If you do not have a smartphone, I'm almost positive you have a computer with internet, otherwise, how are you reading this right now? Go to the redbox website and browse to your heart's content.

2. When you decide you are in the mood to "get a redbox," open the app from Step 1 and take allllll the time you want looking at every movie that piques your interest. You can even search for specific movies! Or look at only their newest releases! And you can read plot synopses AND watch trailers! The major plus is that no one is behind you "coughing and squeaking [their] shoes so [you] know" they're there. (A direct quote from Kennedy yesterday, by the way.) And I may have completely butchered the punctuation in that quote, but I don't have time for correct punctuation! I am on a cultural mission!

3. Find/Reserve a DVD. For this, you will need to enter your credit card information. I know this makes you nervous, but it eliminates the risk of driving allllll the way over to the redbox kiosk only to find that the guy in front of you wearing a towel around his waist just rented the last copy.
Here is how you reserve from the iPhone app:

• Touch the shopping cart icon near the upper right hand corner
• Touch the button that says "Add a Movie" (or if you're renting a game, "Add a Game".)
• Touch the picture of the movie you want to add
• Touch the blue "Reserve at Kiosk" button at the bottom of the screen.
• Touch the shopping cart icon again and then the blue "Go to Checkout" button
• Proceed to checkout and the DVD will be waiting for you at whatever kiosk you chose!

Take the credit card that you reserved the DVD with to the kiosk, touch "Pick up Reservation" button, slide that card and DONE.

And THAT'S how you get a redbox in 30 seconds or less.

**I was not compensated by redbox for this blog post in any way. This is simply a Public Service Announcement from me to the world in order to make redbox lines run more quickly and smoothly.**

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Upcycling TOMS + other random things that are consuming my life

It's summer time and that apparently equals BUSY over here! But unfortunately, that hasn't stopped me from downloading Dots and Candy Crush Saga onto my iPhone and wasting every free second bent over that thing/cursing like a sailor. Those games are HARD, but I can't quit now! 

True story, while waiting for my pictures to upload to this blog post, I played 20 rounds of Candy Crush. I only stopped because I just lost all my lives. This is a problem.

I keep overhearing people (OK, I'm an eavesdropper. Secret's out.) saying "I can't believe it's mid-June already! And I totally agree with them. Where does the time go in the summer? You'd think since we have more daylight, the days would feel longer. No such luck!

I've been trying to have some sort of activity planned for me and C to do each day so we don't go crazy or sit inside staring out the windows like we did all winter. I mean, come on. I'm over that. How depressing. Hence, my lack of blogging/returning phone calls/cleaning. Me and my baby-buddy are busy, y'all!

Like, busy riding around on this tractor toy I dug out of the neighbor's trash.

This also means that when C is down for a nap, I am having down time. And down time = Candy Crush Saga this week. 

BUT, before I got Candy Crush, I actually did a little upcycle to my black TOMS. They're one of the first pair I got, and they've had holes in the toes for a couple of years now. I stopped wearing them for a while when I was pregnant and my feet grew. And it's taken a while for them to get back to normal.

Ok. Honestly, they didn't go all the way back to normal. I think they're wider than before. So that makes these TOMS a liiiiiiittle snug, and the holes started to get more and more noticeable.

Then I remembered I had some fun black fabric in my stash with white stitching across it and thought it'd be PERFECT for my hole-y TOMS.

And also, I guess I drag my left foot behind me in some weird way, because there was this hole on the back heel only. So that needed to be spruced up as well.

The first thing I did was make the holes bigger by cutting them open. I did this because I thought it might help the shoes not feel so tight with an extra layer of fabric. (I've covered another pair of TOMS before and unfortunately, after they were covered, I couldn't fit my giant feet into them.)

Cut the toes open a little bit for more room. Cut more than this for more room, then stuff the toes to the brim while gluing the fabric down,

Also, I know I should have washed them before I did this, but I didn't. I wore them to the splash pad one day, so maybe that is good enough? 

Basically, I just cut some fabric to size and glued it down, tucking it in as I went.

Then I did a bad job taking pictures along the way, but here are a few bullet points of tips to successfully up-cycling your TOMS:

• Choose a cotton fabric and make sure it is pre-washed before you glue it on. That way, if you want to wash your TOMS later, the fabric doesn't warp and peel off.
• Hem the fabric piece along one side for the toe piece and measure and hem 3 sides for the back heel patch (this helps it look more finished, and keeps the edges from fraying.)
• Stuff a bunch of toilet paper in the toes to help them keep shape while you're gluing the fabric down.
• Use masking tape or painters tape to hold the fabric in place for a few hours while it's drying. I mean, REALLY TAPE THOSE SUCKERS UP.
• For the back heel, cut a little piece from the middle to show the TOMS label, and slowly cut away more until you are showing the whole label. If you try to do this all at once, you will probably end up getting it crooked.
• After it is all glued down and dry, trim away the excess fabric with small, sharp scissors. Then, go back along the edges and add extra glue where needed, and tape it down again for a few more hours.
• Remove tape and wear!

ta-da!

The good news is, these fit this time! The bad news is, there is no bad news.

The other good news is, did anyone see this week's episode of Real Housewives of Orange County? How is it possible for me to love people who I've never met so much?

I bet anyone reading this blog post who doesn't really know me probably thinks I'm white trash.