Here is an in progress painted kitchen, at my friends' Danny and Janay's:
Before
After
The progress is being made! The cabinets have been there since the 1950s and the whole house is getting a massive facelift all D.I.Y. Since these cabinets are only going to be temporary for the house, Janay decided to leave the upper cabinets off and just use them as shelving. To make them more of a display and"pop" she decided to paint them white on the inside and a grey everywhere else. I was only able to help for a few hours on Saturday, so I haven't seen it totally complete but seriously, how much better does this look already?!
Love these two! They are amazing and Danny totally helped us with some serious D.I.Y. projects at our house, I hope to help them as much as Sonja will allow, expect more amazing befores and afters from this super cute fixer upper (as many as they'll let me post)!
Happy Tuesday!
p.s. for tips on how to paint properly step by step see my previous Painted Kitchen Post.
and a little baby blog voting never hurt anyone ;)
This is seriously one of the easiest dishes! and it's sooo good!
What you'll need:
*1 eggplant
* Mozzarella Cheese (I use a whole package- you can use more or less)
*Fancy pasta noodles from Target (get yours anywhere, choose the ones you like most)
*1 (and a half) jars of tomato sauce
*Bread crumbs
*9x13 baking dish
Saute the eggplant on a cast iron skillet, until cooked through. boil the pasta in the mean time. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. when the pasta is done add 1/3 sauce to the bottom of the baking dish. add 1/2 pasta on top. add the eggplant on top of that pasta, then add 1/3 more sauce. add the rest of the pasta on top of the eggplant. top with remaining sauce, cheese and finally bread crumbs. bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown and is melted.
Today is one full week of potty training. Below you'll find my documentation of her progress.
Poop
Some of the diaper uses were when she was being babysat, or when we were running errands. My sister and maybe-someday-sister-in-law both try to get her to pee over the toilet, but her Nonnie is scared she'll drop her or won't be able to get back up again.
This week she also laughed for the first time. She was sitting on my lap in the drive thru (we were at a stop! I put her back in her car seat before we started driving) and we were reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar and she was laughing! really laughing! it was great. She also was laughing at me, just me for no real reason this weekend. I'm loving her little personality!
She has also discovered Brutus and finds him pretty funny. Also very cute.
Her first Thanksgiving was a success! She did pee on my beautiful dress though, while I was holding her incorrectly over the toilet at my in-laws. I ended up having to wear my 15 year old sister-in-law's clothes. I just want to share how much it helped my self esteem that after only 9 short weeks I was able to fit into a 15 year olds clothes. A skinny 15 year olds clothes to be more specific.
There was so much amazing-ness in the last week I feel like I might be forgetting something... anyway, happy Momma Monday! hope you're having a great one!
I think you know what side I'm on. But just in case you don't:
This doesn't mean I don't buy anything ever, but the concept of consumption for the sake of consumption is something I struggle with every holiday season. I get my friends and family gifts, but I try really hard to only buy local made items or things with minimal packaging and hardly ever items made from plastic. The nephews are the hardest because all little boys want toy trucks and electronic games. Instead, I try to get them books- preferably about nature. My sister is an active recycler and cares enough about the world, that I'm not forcing my beliefs on her kids, just sharing a side they don't necessarily see from their other family and friends. Everyone else is generally easy, except for my mom the active shop-0-holic. And I'm not saying this with an ounce of exaggeration she buys things on sale just because they're on sale and she hardly ever uses anything I buy her. I end up getting her gift certificates for things like pedicures- little waste there right? a little nail polish but otherwise minimal trash from a gift like that...
for the rest of my family I like supporting artists and crafters so here are some locally (Phoenix) produced items I've purchased for the giving season.
bread and badger. (Supporting Small Business, Artists and Mustaches)
I plan on making a few more of my gifts, stopping at Goodwill to see what they've got and continuing the search for packaging-less gift items, made by local artists or businesses and reused/regifted items.
Good luck with your gift giving season shopping, just keep in mind the plot to sell you things you don't need. And as one of the comments from the video above pointed out, how does not buying anything help the economy? IT DOESN'T. The economy is something someone made up, it is in direct conflict with nature, the economy is rated by how many items you convert from the living to the dead. If you're a little financially restricted this holiday season, don't fret; give gifts of love, and joy to family and friends they'll cherish it more than any object you could ever give.
or how about, going into nature and absorbing it. and breathing it. and enjoying it. and picking up a few pine cones on your journey out and about?
Also, when did they become Christmas decor? I mean they're beautiful and I'd put them all over my home, but I don't think they have anything to do with Christmas-except they look like little mini trees (the trees they come from). They have to do with nature. I love them because they represent new life, and who doesn't love bringing nature into our homes?
But, SCREW YOU, MICHAELS ARTS AND CRAFTS FOR SUPPORTING THE COMMERCIALIZATION of NATURAL RESOURCES.
These and so many other wonderful things that you can get just by interacting by nature should not be bought or sold. They should be enjoyed and loved and experienced.
I know, it's my own fault I was at a strip mall and I deserved to be disgusted but it still pissed me off.
That's just my rant for the day. I hope you take the day to think about nature and all of it's awesomeness, not how it can be converted from the living to the dead, nor how it can be bought or sold.
This "Thanksgiving" I'm thankful for the beautiful world we have around us, sorry to all the native peoples of this planet forced onto tiny plots of reserved land. I hope you find ways to once again live in harmony with nature, by any and all means necessary. I promise to raise my daughter to respect the world around us and native, primitive lifestyles.
little salt and pepper shakers (only because I had a coupon)
All this from Cost Plus, World Market. The Sometimes Sweet Blog alerted me to the serving plates; thanks! Also, they had napkin rings and place card holders but I thought this would be sufficient, that, and I ran out of money. My sister bought me the first set of plates for my birthday, but I had asked for the serving plates. Since, she got the wrong ones, I didn't return them rather just bought the other ones also, then I had another coupon and some late birthday money so I bought another set with the salt and pepper shakers. I think I'll stop there, although paper-source.com has some Matryoshka Measuring cups!!
Well, that's my consumerism update as of late. Hope you enjoyed it!
p.s. please vote for my blog by clicking below! thanks!!.
This week I joined Eats on Feetsin their global oganization of getting human milk to human babies! I will be helping as a c0-admin to the Arizona chapter on Facebook. So excited to be a part of this amazing project. I LOVE my Midwife and all she does for me, the community, the world. Shell Walker- you are amazing!
Another interesting thing from this week is EC (Elimination Communication), so interesting! Diaperless Babies?! it's possible, people do it, and their home isn't covered in pee or poop. We're trying it! Basically, Sonja's been doing it on her own since birth, every time we'd change her, she'd pee on her changing table or even poop. We thought it was the whole cold air thing, that everyone says, but apparently it's built in to them, to not pee or poop on themselves read about it here. I'm going to order this book with more info; Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene. But, I also like this getting started info page; click here.
The morning after I saw this online, I tried it when she woke up- she peed out of her diaper, then again later after I fed her, we sat over the toilet and I "sssss"ed and she went (with in seconds)! I was stoked, of course I keep a CLOTH diaper on her bottom in case she does go, but also I check it to see when she might have gone that I missed. I know I'm still going to have to change lots of diapers and I don't mind, but I LOVE the idea she's not sitting in her own waste AND that she'll be more self aware and self sufficient earlier if she's starting to be potty trained SOO early.
On day 2 of infant potty training and Sonja has only peed in her diaper twice! She's gone on the toilet at least 6 or 7 times and pooped once today (once yesterday) on the toilet. She has not pooped in her diaper today since going on the toilet.
Since early on, I was struggling with the idea of her sitting in her own poop or pee, we changed her frequently but I still felt like it was borderline child abuse having her poop and pee in her diaper. Think of this in terms of ANY other age group; when would it ever be okay to let a child sit in his or her own excrement for even a few minutes?? most diapers recommend changing every 2-4 hours. Later on their poop is smellier so you would notice it in their diapers, but breast milk poops are almost odorless in diapers... if you don't hear it, sometimes you don't notice it right away. Anyway, Husband is also super into the idea. He was skeptical at first until I had him hold her over the toilet this morning and I showed him the "sssss"ing sound. He was like, "No, Way!" Our families are poking fun at it and thinking we're being a bit dramatic, but who knows when the "right" time to start potty training is? Usually, the parents, the child and also more importantly when it works. And so far, it's working for us. Now I just have to convince the babysitters...
Stroller Update:
Remember how last week I declined my in-laws stroller present, yeah my husband showed up at home from working all day with stroller and car seat in hand. His dad brought it to work and gave it to him all assembled and ready to go. Don't get me wrong it's a nice stroller, I just didn't want it. But it's here now, nothing I can do about it. This little clip represents how I feel about it, enjoy:
Also, this week; I was interviewed about my home birth experience, here's the interview:
On a scale from 1-5 how would you rate your overall experience of dealing with a midwife and having a home birth?
5 being best? I'd give it a 5.
Did you encounter any sort of problems during your pregnancy and or birth? If so what were they and how were they dealt with?
I had several minor issues during pregnancy.
1. I had a weird pain in my rib cage, not from the baby's foot. my midwife suggested it might be a muscle tear or hernia and recommended I purchases a belly support band and try acupuncture. I did both, and they helped but the strange pain lasted until my baby was out.
2. I had a high ph in general but was sort of the norm for me, we tracked this when I would pee and she would check it on a test strip. We kept an eye on it and she told me to eat a lot of yogurt for the probiotics to protect from a yeast infection or U.T.I. and also to take some grapefruit seed extract. I never got a UTI or infection, so we must have been monitoring it well.
3. Once and a while I'd be "dehydrated" based on my pee samples, but usually I'd just drink some water right away and I'd be fine, or you can also tell when you're hungry based on your pee samples and when that happened to me she's cut me up an apple or give me some snacks. She always had the best food at her office. What were some of the tips you were given to help have a healthy pregnancy and birth at home? Lots. I have a whole note book filled with her suggestions, some that stand out for a healthy pregnancy included eating more proteins (as a vegetarian this is important since you're supposed to get so much more protein while pregnant) she told me to try quenoa instead of rice. I had never heard of quenoa until being pregnant, now we eat it at least once a week. She recommended certain teas but not until AFTER 12 weeks. Walk everyday, that was a big one. Also, in order to do a home birth, the pregnant woman must be in general good health to begin with AND it must be a single pregnancy, no twins or multiples. For the home birth, we took a child birth education class from her midwife partner and she educated us on all the steps and processes of birth so we knew what to expect, in that instance; the knowledge was power, anything abnormal would have been noticed by myself, my husband, our midwife or her assistant. The abnormalities would be handled as they arose.
Why did you choose to have a home birth?
This is a long answer, I'll do my best to explain it simply.
We believe that the medical interventions, often routine, in hospital settings, decrease the human experience, meaning birth is a natural healthy process; in the hospital you are monitored for all things that can go wrong. often this leads to unnecessary interventions. Also, many doctors or nurses do not believe in the power of women and their bodies, many doctors and nurses told me I'd NEED to get an epidural, which have serious effects on the mother's and baby's safety and often lead to complications of their own including complications of breastfeeding once the baby is born. If you can poop or pee or get sick by yourself why can't you give birth by yourself. It's best to have someone who knows what to expect and what to do if something does "go wrong" but for the most part, even an unassisted birth will go fine. You hear stories all the time about the dad who delivered the baby on the way to the hospital. Babies come when they want, you're just helping to make sure it happens safely. Also, I had always planned on doing a natural birth without meds, inspired by my mother who birthed my sister Brittany this way, but when a close GUY friend mentioned that home birth was a great experience for a friend of his, I started thinking about it. When I got pregnant, I started researching it. I was thoroughly disgusted with the medical practices here in the US when it comes to birthing and decided to find a midwife to help us have our baby at home. I know there's a lot more to say but for now that's all I can think of...
What is your own opinion on hospital births?
I think, no, know hospitals are big businesses. They make a profit and to them, a birthing woman is just another paycheck from an insurance company. They want to get you in and out as quickly as possible, and they want you to believe it's for your own health. Mothers often go to the hospital right away, I was able to sit at home and watch movies in bed with my husband and eat and drink whatever I wanted. If you've ever been to a hospital before, I think you know which option is better. When you're at the hospital and taking a while to "progress", they give you pitocin to speed up delivery process (opening you up quicker), causing you more pain. That pain is often unbearable and nothing like natural unintervened contractions, but since woman are in so much pain they accept the drugs and epidurals. The drugs affect not only the mother but also the baby causing more complications because of heart rate issues for the baby, and epidurals can even cause permanentparalyzation or death (although, rare, it does happen, and it happens in the US more than most other countries). Often, once the mother has the epi and pain meds more complications arise and a cesarean section is the "only" answer. MAJOR SURGERY HAPPENS MORE OFTEN THAN NOT at hospital births. I did not want to spend my first 6 weeks of motherhood, recovering from MAJOR ABDOMINAL sugery. so I decided to do it at home, and if necessary go to the hospital under emergency necessity only.
Would you recommend home births to others?
I keep recommending home births to others! I blog about it, talk about, text about it. All my friends know how I feel about it. I would hope after hearing my birthing story and other's hospital birthing stories they'd see the obvious choice, but soo many people have been taught to fear their bodies and this natural process. So many times I'm asked what if something went wrong? my answer always was "my midwife will know what to do and she will keep me safe." and she did. I had minor bleeding issues right after the birth and she gave my body the tools to fix the problem, I took herbs and other steps to stop the bleeding, if it hadn't stopped she would have given me pitocin and if that didn't work we would have gone to the hospital. Luckily, the herbs/breastfeeding/going pee worked. Healthy women should birth at home, not because I think home birth is RIGHT but because those women owe it to themselves and their babies to have the best, happiest, most memorable birth experiences.
Were there any complications after birth that were rare or only specific to home births?
For me the only complications I had both during and after were;
1. Sonja was facing forward looking towards my tummy (as opposed to facing back looking towards my back), this complication can occur in any pregnancy, but only in a hospital is it often met with a c-seaction (ask my other sister Brandy about that experience). At home Shell (my midwife) was able to manually adjust her, she had patience for me and my body to adjust to what she was asking it to do.
2. Bleeding a little more than "normal" which I've already explained ALSO NOT SPECIFIC TO HOME BIRTHS.
As far as I know there are no complications specific to home birth.
Happy Momma Monday!
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We had advance screening tickets for a 6:30 showing. We brought SLC so I could feed her and such but I really wish I had a pair of baby head phones, it was SOOO loud. I don't remember movies being so loud. Otherwise, all was great, she only cried once when I passed her off to her Daddy and she bumped her face on his.
Anyway, baby ear phones are sounding very functional to me right about now. Maybe, I'll pick some up!
I only have one item on there right now, Sonja is sort of NEEDING to be held and so it's taking me longer than usual to get things done. No big deal though, I'm stoked to be listing some great pieces of artwork, like these:
Prices vary, but I'll have some items as low as $20 and some as high as $200.
Here's my how to, and advice on painting a kitchen, including the cabinets.
Here's some photos for you before I give you the step by step:
sea of cabinets. the cabinets scattered as we painted them.
above: the before of our kitchen (everything is pale pink - gross)
above: the after picture, with my completed project.
above: before, view from the hallway.
above: after, view from the hallway.
Now that you can see the difference of just a few coats of paint, let me explain what it was we did. Make sure to take before pictures before you start!
1. Sand with a fine sand paper and then scrub everything with TSP a seriously intense cleaner, make sure to wear thick gloves. let everything dry.
2. Take down cabinets. label them with corresponding numbers as you go, this will make the difference between hell or heaven when rehanging them. Keep all screws in a safe spot, not necessary to remove hinges but you'll need to tape them or use aluminum foil to keep from painting them. If your cabinets have handles, you'll want to remove them while you paint.
3. Use a sponge like roller to paint, not the normal rollers; this one is smaller, has no end cap on one end and allows for a smoother application, click here to order some or see them.
3. Paint.
4. Paint again.
5. If necessary paint again.
6. Once you've painted all desired surfaces you'll want to apply a clear coat, to seal the paint. I didn't do this right away and seriously regretted it. I had to go back a few months later (while I was 6 months pregnant and touch up the paint and then seal them). Click here to see an example of what I'm talking about.
7. After the clear coat dries, put hardware back on the cabinets, then re-hang the cabinets using the numbering system to make sure they go back to the right spot.
8. Once everything is back in place take an after photo and enjoy your beautiful "new" kitchen.
Since I'm an almost always stay at home mom, I don't go anywhere without Sonja Cake, and she doesn't go anywhere without me, there was no need for me to have a separate purse and diaper bag. My Aunt Jenny brought over a bunch of stuff from Target last week and this uber cute bag was part of it.
From above: bottle holder turned receiving blanket holder, since we're bottle free!
keeping prepared with pens, markers, high lighters and sharpies:
The back view:
Here's what's inside: top row from left to right:
whipes, gdiaper, baby hat, damask burp cloth, hand sanitizer, Roxy Sunglasses, matt&nat vegan wallet, tylenol, neosporin to go (I always injure myself), matching changing pad, sigg waterbottle (a gift from my Seattle guys),
bottom row from left to right:
nail file, flash light, benchmade knife, extra camera battery, keys, pen, sharpie, marker, highlighter, usb drive, note pad, another note pad with budget info, 2 chapsticks, a pencil sharpener, damask bib, cell phone (blackberry storm, I wish it would get struck by lightning -anyone wanna get me a new phone?!), Mom Agenda, and finally the owl zipping bag is for dirty diapers on the go.
above: a detail of the diaper stuff.
above: a detail of the organized mom stuff.
I love my mom agenda. I also always have my cell phone, even though it freezes I can email, text and keep everything organized with it.
So there it is, all my necessities except my camera, which I'm using to take the photos... and maybe an item or two :)
This year, I'm a mom. Different than any other birthday before. Usually, I'm a selfish person. September 24, 2010 something changed. Sonja arrived and now she matters more than anything else ever before. Birthdays, before, were always my favorite day. It's the day everyone focuses on you. You are special, you are recognized. This year I still appreciate that, but realized I'm not the most important person in the world. And in a way, that makes me appreciate everyone's kind thoughts and love even more- since I realize how polite they're being.
With that said, here are my birthday gifts in the order they were received:
Another poster/print/present from Jaxon, by Shepard Fairey
And my pre-birthday dinner last night:
blurry husband and sleeping baby- she's dressed like a boy, but she's wearing pink underneath all those layers, and I didn't edit this photo, no flash and talking husband makes a ghost picture.
Our pizza
Shaken Lemonade I had a sip of- so good!
The salad I've been craving for months :)
So far so good. cake tonight with family and friends!!
The progress is being made! The cabinets have been there since the 1950s and the whole house is getting a massive facelift all D.I.Y. Since these cabinets are only going to be temporary for the house, Janay decided to leave the upper cabinets off and just use them as shelving. To make them more of a display and"pop" she decided to paint them white on the inside and a grey everywhere else. I was only able to help for a few hours on Saturday, so I haven't seen it totally complete but seriously, how much better does this look already?!
