fifteen weeks.

thirteen weeks.

Even before I got pregnant, I knew I really wanted to document those 40 weeks somehow through journaling/pictures. Found this idea here. I'm going to try to do this every couple of weeks or so.

Oh, and check out the other pictures we've taken so far: here.

Two Beautiful Lines

Do you remember how when we were travelling a bunch last year, this blog was mainly centered around documenting those adventures? And then we bought a house, and all of our posts suddenly were about those projects? Well, now we have a new project :) And since we are officially "out" now, I can share a few posts that were written months ago!

Originally written on 10.11.2011

---

Ten days ago, we found out I am pregnant.

I've had ten days for this wonderful news to sink in and I'm still somewhat in shock. Or maybe I'm just holding my breath. I'm finding the first trimester to be very terrifying. I should be almost 6 weeks along now, but I'm in that limbo stage where I haven't started feeling pregnant yet. I don't really have many symptoms, definitely no morning sickness at this point. And, I haven't seen our baby yet, since an ultrasound isn't usually don't for a few more weeks. So, the only thing I have to go by is this picture above. I'm putting my faith in this one little plastic pee stick. Ok, more like five plastic pee sticks...

At some point, I'm going to exhale and be overwhelmed with joy. Right now, it all feels too good to be true.

I've Been Pinspired

Yep, that's right - I'm going to express my deep and unwavering affection for Pinterest again. But don't worry, I'm not going to go on and on about how amazing it is or how you need to sign up right now or how I didn't know what love was until I found Pinterest. No, I'm just going to get down to it. The past few weekends I have been a busy little bee with a few projects I found on said website.

Maps of each of the places we've lived, cut into hearts & framed!

original link

A pretty fall wreath adorned with DIY'd fabric rosettes!

original link

I made a sunburst mirror out of wood shims, hot glue, a mirror, and some wooden floral rings! More on this later (maybe?)

original link

And a dry-erase board out of a picture frame and some scrapbook paper!

original link

Alright, back to work for this little bee!

Somebody Slap Me...

...If I ever nonchalantly talk about refinishing a piece of wood furniture again! I refinished an old outdoor bench a few weeks ago, and I just about lost it. I've done it before, but apparently I forgot how painstaking and time-consuming the process is. I felt like Squints from The Sandlot: "All the sanding & staining, staining & SANDING! And varnishing! I can't take this no more!"





Here's said bench before and after:

And here it is on our porch with a new bench cushion I bought at WalMart:

Take THAT, Pottery Barn

I love Pottery Barn. 99% of the items sold at Pottery Barn could all be on my Oprah-esque favorite things list. However, I would never actually purchase 99% of the items sold at Pottery Barn because they are ridiculously expensive. Examples? This, these, this, and this. I could go on, really.

But my favorite thing I think I've ever seen at Pottery Barn was this light. And it's only a measly four-HUNDRED-dollars! (gulp) Or, that's how I tried to rationalize the cost to myself and my husband, but it was a no-go for this hobo. So sad too, because I knew it would look gorgeous in our dining room.

But then! I found THIS on PINTEREST (proof that something like this could be DIY'd):

link from Kara Paisley Designs
And a few great tutorials (here and here) on how to make your own pendant or chandelier lights with mason jars! I was sold. And I eventually convinced Aaron to be in on it too (it really was QUITE the project).

Here's what we ended up with. We are so happy. And tired (did I mention yet that it was a lot of work?) I've got all the details below for those whose hearts also ache for that much-too-expensive PB light.

Here's the cost breakdown:

$   6.97 - pint-sized mason jars (all the quart-sized ones were given to me!)
$   4.34 - mason jar lids with bands
$ 22.20 - lamp wire
$ 34.44 - sockets
$   3.98 - wire nuts
$ 11.88 - lightbulbs
$   8.48 - spray paint
$ 12.00 - wood for base
$   4.50 - clamps for wires
_______

$ 108.79 TOTAL (WIN!!)

We are thrilled with the results. And thrilled to actually have LIGHT in our dining room. Now, we really have no excuse for eating dinner in the living room.

Anywho, for those who are interested in the "how-to", read on!

A DIY Victory

Three years ago, I bought these pictures for $5 each at an auction:

I don't even have to ask, I know some of you are giving semi-creepy, white Jesus & Mary a nervous, eye-brow-raised look. My husband gave me that same look when I showed him what I bought, "What in the world are you going to do with THOSE?!" To which I replied, "I have no idea! But I like them!"

I hung onto these and moved them from apartment to apartment to house for the past 3 years, and then I finally had an idea! I found this idea on Pinterest (WHAT-you're-not-on-Pinterest?!):

originally from Felt & Wire Shop.

New Home, New Fears

Last summer, when we first got Ellie (and she was the cutest. puppy. ever.), we quickly found out that she was afraid of going down stairs. She would go up them just fine, but if you wanted her to get down the stairs, you had to carry her. Since you HAD to go down the stairs in our old apartment to get outside, this meant a lot of Aaron & Heather carrying the puppy down the stairs so she could go potty. This was fine while she was a little thing, but by about 5 months we got more aggressive about getting her to go down the steps. By herself.

It didn't take long until she was running up and down, up and down, up and down the steps, using her newly-discovered skills.

And then her world got turned upside-down a little bit when we moved into this house. Among the hundreds of different things she's had to adjust to, the stairs in our new house (since they are over 100 years old!) are very different than the ones she was used to. The steps are very steep and the treads are pretty short. And to throw another curveball in there, they make a left turn at the very bottom, so it's not just a straight-shot anymore.

Eventually, she got over this too. But there were several instances where she found herself upstairs, unsure about how to get down them, and very panicked.

And then I realized this house doesn't just present new fears for the dog - for us too! After a few big storms recently brought trees down in our yard, I find myself terrified during thunderstorms now. In fact, there's a whole list of things that I never thought about before that now have me laying awake at night: carbon monoxide, lead paint, smoke detectors (& fire extinguishers), our home's stone foundation, etc etc! Some of these are mostly irrational (hey, we had a home inspection and they think the foundation is fine!) and some are just quick fixes (just go buy a fire extinguisher already!)

But I can't help but worry. This is my life now.

Luck

Two Fridays ago, Aaron & I got a letter in the mail from our bank that said they had been notified that our home insurance had been canceled (and we had so many days to replace the coverage, etc). Neither of us had intentionally canceled the coverage, so this was news to us. Great, add that to the constantly-growing list of things to do. But the insurance company's office does not open again til Monday morning, guess we'll have to wait.

Fast forward to 7am Monday morning of last week.

As many of you probably experienced, there was a big storm that tore through Wisconsin & Illinois early last week. Trees were uprooted, power lines were down, counties declared emergencies, etc. Close to 1 million people lost power in the Chicago area alone.

Aaron and I were still sleeping when we heard it. CRACK! Followed by CRASH! Both of us leaped out of bed and started running around, "Where did that come from? What was it? Did it hit the house?"

A very large, very heavy branch of a tree in our front yard had fallen toward the house. Ahem, our currently-UNINSURED house. Somehow though, it did not actually fall ON the house. The very tip of the last branch is actually just-touching the siding of the house.

How lucky could we be that this storm wreaks havoc on the greater Milwaukee/Chicago area, our home insurance is temporarily up in the air (Murphy's Law, anyone?), and the worst that happens is one segment of our fence has to be put back together?

Very lucky.

Home | Appliances

We have lived in our house for 1 month! Can you believe it? Sometimes I look around and think, "What the heck have we been doing for a month?! We still have so much to do!" But then I remember that we didn't have running water one month ago. And we didn't have painted rooms. And all the rooms were empty. And we didn't have a garden (more on that later). We did all that within the last month. Even though we were gone several weekends! So, I'm going to pat myself on the back now. (And thank both sets of our parents for all their help!)

Another thing we didn't have? Appliances. Boom. Check it out:

Ta-da!

We are still needing a dishwasher. And a clothes washer. And a clothes dryer. One step at a time!