(rookie) mom mistake.

hello all! back with another edition of "things i shouldn't have done whilst raising my son." this one is so OBVIOUS, i shouldn't even be sharing it. i knew it was a mistake even as i was making the decision. DEFINITE MOM FAIL!

i consider myself somewhat practical and reasonable when it comes to buying things for jack. i do occasionally get sucked in to purchasing things that aren't out and out NECESSITIES, but i can usually justify them with a quick "but look at all the money we save cloth diapering!" and anyway, most of my indulgences are room decor and books (both timeless classics, if you ask me).

so yeah, last night, after enjoying every possible moment of the balmy weather, jack and i made a quick trip to a local consignment shop that we usually frequent every few weeks. i was on the look out for some lightweight pj's for the little man, and as as we scoured the racks for those, we found ourselves next to a shelf holding various toys. and then i saw this:

image from here.

the little elmo laptop was priced at $4.99, and so, even acknowledging that it was a mistake as i picked it up, i handed it to jack, considering it a reasonably priced addition to his toy collection. i mean, it was $5. what's the harm?

the harm is that approximately 48 seconds later, the annoying voice of elmo had already driven me slightly crazy. jack was enthralled by this little laptop and the ease with which he could open and shut the contraption and push the keys. in 3 minutes time, i had already heard the following phrases ad nauseum "identify! identify! identify" and "green triangle. green triangle. green triangle." and "elmo likes! elmo likes!" NOTE TO SELF AND TO PARENTS EVERYWHERE: IF A TOY ANNOYS YOU PRIOR TO LEAVING THE STORE, DO. NOT. BUY. IT. (it's pretty obvious, right?)

this is not my first encounter with elmo. oh no, folks, i should have known better. for jack's first birthday, a family friend gave us these:

image from here.

what are those, you ask? those, my friends, are ELMO HANDS. they are fuzzy, furry glove-looking contraptions that sing and yell and make other annoying noises. the kids pictured above look like they're having a grand ole time, right? NOT PICTURED: annoyed parents with migraines, drinking hard alcohol to drown out the noise. when i recovered from my shock at the fact that ELMO HANDS even existed, i then tried to give them a chance. my good faith effort lasted 7 minutes. i banished them to a wicker basket in the closet where they have remained ever since (except for a brief discovery by the son of one of my co-workers during a dinner party).

jack also received THIS for christmas:

image from here.

that's rock n' roll elmo. he sings, he plays instruments, and he asks you to do stuff for him. yes, i'm serious. elmo will ask you to hand him instruments. he will do this five times consecutively, and if you do not hand him the instrument he wants, he will discontinue asking for it and need to be reprogrammed. which sounds pretty passive aggressive and whiny to me. furthermore, i have a lot of stuff to do (you know, keeping up with my reality television shows, convincing john to help me with DIY projects... RAISING MY SON...) i really don't have time to hand instruments to furry, inanimate objects. but that's just me... maybe you totally have time to meet elmo's exorbitant demands... "1-2-3 come and sing with me... 4-5-6 everyone, let's go!" elmo was allowed to hang out in our living room for a few weeks after christmas. and then he also went to live in the closet because his annoying, whiny voice brought me to the brink of breakdown pretty quickly. i don't know what it is about elmo, but we just don't click. my sister made fun of me last weekend for my love of wooden toys, but let's be honest: a wooden block isn't going to ask you to hand it a tambourine. a wooden block can't sing or dance or force you to seek illegal prescription drugs. the problem with elmo toys is they leave very little to the imagination. i think i could be okay with an elmo doll. a silent one, with no on/off/sing-at-full-volume button.

so anyway, i SHOULD have known better than to buy that elmo laptop. afterall, i'd already experienced THE HORROR of elmo hands and rock n' roll elmo. but i only spent $5. this morning, i looked up the laptop on amazon. LOOK HERE. WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND IS PAYING $70 for this annoying thing? i can't believe it. for $5, the price is right, and i don't have to feel an ounce of guilt when i shove that laptop in the closet in a day or two. beware friends: one of you lucky individuals might just be receiving an elmo themed basket of goodies at your next baby shower!

little list.

want to see something adorable?

no, no, it's not the little memo board thingie i made awhile back. you've already seen that and you're underwhelmed by it. let's zoom in on the little list in the second row.

while cleaning out and organizing some stuff to add to the new hallway bookcase, i stumbled upon this little list that had been painstakingly written by my youngest brother clayton over a decade ago. we were heading to canada for a family vacation in the quetico provincial forest, and clay was assisting by making everyone lists of what to pack. is this the most precious little list you've ever seen?!?

i think the answer to that question is a resounding YES. YES, IT CERTAINLY IS.

my favorite is the 1-2 "tuthbrushs" and 2 "shots." even though i think he missed an "r," family vacations probably would have been even more enjoyable with hard alcohol.

while the list is displayed on my memo board for the time being, i'm thinking about framing it to add to my gallery wall. because a list that cute deserves it's own frame & matte, riiight?

this week: a revue.

a revue* is a light theatrical entertainment consisting of short sketches, songs, and dances. hopefully you will find this revue slightly entertaining. it may also be a sweet new addition to your "words with friends" repertoire. (you're welcome husband & friends.)

anyway, THIS week. THIS FREAKIN' WEEK. you know how people say things like, "i can't wait for this week to be over," or "i'm living for the weekend," or "2 more days until friday?" well, those little cliches were never more true for me than they were this week. this week was just an intense culmination of way too much work, home renovations, lack of sleep and not enough downtime. basically a veritable recipe for disaster. as i sit here reflecting on the events of the past seven days, sipping a warm mug of coffee and marveling at the fact that jack is still sleeping at 8:45 a.m. (thanks, i assume, at least in part to a rousing good time at the park with dad yesterday afternoon), i have resigned myself to the fact that this was not the first week of this sort i have experienced this year, nor will it be the last. to quote kurt vonnegut out of context, so it goes.

as i was driving back to the office after a 4 hour settlement conference yesterday afternoon, i was listening to some grim statistics on talk radio. 1 in 5 americans live in poverty. 1 in 6 americans are unemployed or underemployed. i am not one of those people. this was just the sort of newscast i needed yesterday. i needed a fresh perspective. because this week was really just prosperity overload. and i needed to be reminded of that. i have so many things going on right now in my life... marriage, raising my son, working in a fast-paced career, and fulfilling self-imposed pinterest challenges (ha!) and during the weeks when it all seems to be too much, it is important to remind myself that i chose this. the stress that sometimes accompanies these activities is just the intersection of all the choices i am privileged to make. i should be nothing, if not grateful, for the endless opportunities i have.

so yeah, back to this week. it was a week of highs and lows, or more accurately, a week of extreme highs and extreme lows, namely seeing the avett brothers in concert, for the high and

dealing with a flooded basement catastrophe for the low, low, low. the condensed version of that story is that as part of the basement renovations, my husband had to cut the pipes near the old utility sink. he cut the correct one, but the vibrations from the saw snapped some welding on another pipe loose and disaster ensued. it is now cleaned up and fixed, but not before a few choice words were uttered to my husband over the phone while he was at his weekly gun club meeting. (my apologies to the rest of his gun club members whom, i'm quite certain, overheard every word.)

snapping pictures of the damage was not high on my list of priorities at the time, but this picture sort of sums up my feelings on the whole thing

jack began galloping his little horses around the floor this week saying, "neigh neigh." it is pretty adorable, i must say. he also does the same thing with a little deer figurine that his grandpa gave him. i have not corrected the error in his play at this point. he's also big into driving trucks, cars or other assorted toys around and yelling "weeeeeee!" most recently - the power saw that grandma fueger bought him to go with his workbench.

my sister jessica is home from college and my youngest brother clayton was on spring break for the last half of this week, so we also got to spend some extra time with them. jack very much enjoyed his captive audience despite his less-than-enthused look during picture time.

we welcomed home a new addition to the crew around here this week. another fabulous find courtesy of the rescue mission thrift store. i saw this piece a few months ago when i was there, and i have regretted not buying it ever since. yesterday, on my way back to my office after court, i decided to pop in, hoping it was still there. and it was. $20 later, my friend greg and i were driving it to my house. john's first reaction was "TAKE IT BACK. TAKE IT BACK NOW. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!" but he's come around and admitted (under duress last night) that he knows i will make it into something great.

here she is, in all her glory. ignore that crappy light getting in the way of it. that's going to come off the wall. i need to paint her in a creamy white, i'm thinking.
here's a remarkably similar version from pottery barn:

as i told john, $20 vs. $899... what's there to complain about? when painting weather starts up again, i'm planning to paint the inside of the shelves a different color or maybe add some wallpaper to the back. for now, it provides much needed additional book storage up in the hallway. (it also provided thirty minutes of playtime for jack as he delighted in hiding in the lower cabinets and giggling hysterically).

here's a few inspiration pics for the bookshelf redo... whenever it happens...

first image from here; second image from here.

i think my next project is going to be the hallway. i need to switch out the cheapo light sconces, get rid of the one that's too close to the bookshelf, add a roman shade or a curtain for the window, maybe some pictures on the walls... who knows... for now i'm just enjoying my latest rescue mission victory over john!

so anyway, this week full of ups and downs is now over. i hope yours was full of many highs and, if nothing else, i hope you each can put the lows in perspective. after all, there's always next week. have a great weekend!

show off!

all of the sudden my sweet little towhead was replaced by evil kneivel. this little daredevil is standing on tables, balancing on chairs and walking forward down the stairs. to say he is keeping us on our toes would be quite the understatement. i just hope my next post on this blog isn't a tale of woe written from the waiting room at the ER.

jack isn't the only one showing off around these parts. a few of my latest creations are doing the same thing. in slightly less dangerous, less heart-palpitation-inducing ways.

i wish pottery barn would stop showing off. wish she'd stop having such lovely things that make me drool, but then cost $400, making them so very far out of my home decor budget. wish she'd stop sending her tempting magazines to my home month after month because i waste hours upon hours pining over all the pictures, folding back pages and circling things with a black permanent marker.

ahhhh, i just love me some PB. i really, really do. i just don't love, nor can i afford, her pricetags. recently i've been daydreaming about this...

and this...

images both from here. the second mirror is my favorite, but there's no way i can justify spending four hundo on a mirror. unless the mirror promises to shave 10 pounds off, never reflect wrinkles and hide under-eye baggage.

a while ago, i got some old windows from my parents' house. one is four panes (2 on top, two on bottom, square lay-out) and the other has three panes of about 8 x 10, side by side. it was always my plan to do something with these, but i just never got that far.

FINALLY - i dug one of the windows out of the recesses of the basement, and painted it a creamy white. then i took it to a local glass shop to have them custom cut some mirrors to fit in the panes. jack flirted with the woman behind the counter and she gave us 20% off. after spending $30 for the mirrors, i added them to the window, distressed it a bit, then hung it on the wall.

but i didn't love it. it seemed too plain and blah.

so i added a little something to jazz it up.

i have a small stockpile of old barnwood in my basement (leftover remnants from the sign i made john), and i had john cut a piece the length of the window. i screwed it to the bottom of the window to make a shelf, painted the shelf to match the distressed finish of the top and promptly loved it so much more.

BEFORE:

and, AFTER:

why yes, that is a burlap wrapped aloe plant. i can't quite capture in words my excitement over it, and i can't do john's face of disgust justice with my words...

and my new window shelf is not the only thing showing off around here. i shamelessly stole this idea from pinterest, but am loving this new place to show off all my favorite earrings.

yeah, it's a cheese grater. i found it for $1 at goodwill, then painted it with some acrylic paint i found in the discount bin at joann's for $0.50. i always forget all the earrings i have because they previously lived in a box in my closet. and now they can show off right on the dresser.

they go perfectly with the necklace hanger i made years ago when i was in law school...

i sometimes wish i still lived in southern illinois, aka land of the amazing frames found at antique and resale shops.

andddd... it's official. i owe john the gun of his dreams. because he took iron to fabric and spent many tireless hours IRONING the wrinkles out of the curtains i FINALLY finished sewing for the living room and dining rooms. why did i wait sooooo long???

forgive my crappy camera. the curtains really make the rooms look more finished. they pull the eyes away from the trim we DESPERATELY need to add and make uniform since we knocked the wall between the rooms down. but back to the important things: i owe john BIG TIME for his patience. i was going to chuck the fabric and buy new stuff. because i don't have any patience. well, no patience for mishaps with linen. i have lots of patience for repetitive children's books. (new this week: mrs. wow never wanted a cow, green eggs and ham, and oh, the thinks you can think!)

well, i'm off to finish some legal research. which is not even slightly as enjoyable as craft research on pinterest. go figure.

hope you and yours are off to a great week!

tweaking.

i realized when i shared the forty cent dresser knobs jack and i added to his dresser that it's been awhile since i've shared anything new about jack's room. and, i have been busy doing some tweaking in there. sidenote: check out urban dictionary's definition of tweaking. which, when you think about it, is remarkably similar to what i've been doing in there. you know, freaking out about the position of frames and art. worrying about whether white vs. brown frames are a better choice. obsessively rearranging and re-organizing storage bins and containers in the closet. contemplating and re-working and analyzing options for storing books. yes, totally tweaking.

while it isn't exciting or discernible from pictures, i did line jack's curtains with white block-out-every-tiny-bit-of-light panels. my little vampire can enjoy his cave in pure darkness now. i am totes jelly of his curtains, and need to finally make a decision on fabric for our bedroom so i can block out some light up in there...

and, peekaboo! the gallery wall for which i've been collecting art, prints and "stuff" is finally done... for the time being. and i can officially say that i. LOVE. it. if only i could create gallery walls all throughout the house. maybe i'd love each room that much more...

as is my tradition with gallery walls, there was a bit of drama on the way to getting it done. first, i hung it on the wall above the changing table. as in, i arranged all the frames, hemmed and hawed, then pounded the nails INTO THE WALL.

and then john and i watched a movie with ryan gosling. and i spent half the movie thinking that ryan gosling is pretty cute and the next half thinking that the gallery wall looked wrong above the little changing table. it needed to spread out on the wall above the dresser. so, i took it all down, and re-hung it. ahhh, wall gallery indecisiveness. nothing a little nail hole filler and some leftover paint can't fix. it looks about 7,000 times better on this wall. and there's so much more room for all these special pieces i collected. like this one...

which is a quote from one of my favorite avett brothers' songs.

and this one for my little iowan.

i am also super excited about the addition of the hooks since i can now showcase jack's expansive tie collection. is there anything cuter than miniature ties? that's doubtful. (ps. the ties are from here; SO cute and the perfect gift for the little men in your life)

ps. just for old time's sake: THIS is jack's original "gallery wall." pish posh... SO much better now...riiight?

(and yes, that heart garland was my attempt to valentine-ify jack's room - without the colors pink or red, which were forbidden by john)

the mirror that i painted green, hated, then painted blue has been relocated to the space above the changing table THAT WE NEVER USE. i know, i know. i should have listened to the veteran moms who told me not to buy a changing table because i'd never use it. i was into that, "oh, it's going to look so cute in his room with the matching crib" thing. and then i had to go buy the adorable changing pad cover from the land of nod, so everytime i think about getting rid of this unused piece, i'm all like THAT COVER IS SO ADORABLE. IT MUST STAY RIGHT. HERE. i suppose it does provide some function since we have toys and books stored in the bins underneath. but anyway - to make a long story short, my next mission is to replace this table with something a little more functional for his room.


one of my favorite additions to the room is this DOUBLE ENTENDRE above the glider rocker. a little towhead with a guitar that bears the caption "rock on." oh, and you know i got totally OCD about having a dark frame next door to the white frame gallery wall. i chewed off a few nails during my analysis, but ultimately concluded that the print looked so much better with the dark frame.

i got some free zulily credits (thanks for shopping, friends!) and added a little humidifier to jack's room. he loves the cow. almost too much, and we i live in a state of mild fear and paranoia that he might try to knock it over. until disaster strikes, though... how cute is that cow?!

along time ago, i pinned THIS idea for book storage for jack's room. apparently, so did everyone and their mother because on a trip to ikea a few months ago, i was told they were sold out of the spice racks and there was no telling when they'd be back in stock. i waited a few months, and with no chance of re-stocking on the horizon, i began brainstorming new & cheap game plans for this unused wall space.

i loved this option from the land of nod, which is no surprise because i love pretty much every thing made by the land of nod, including their quirky item names. it was just a wee bit more than i wanted to spend.

also, loved these options from pottery barn kids.

i was at ikea this weekend and picked up these photo ledges (below). they are PERFECT for displaying jack's favorite books. since he can see more books, he's more apt to change it up a little instead of requesting that we read the same 3 books exhaustively for a 2 or 3 week period of time. plus, i love open book storage. so cute!

jack, demonstrating how to use his new reading nook


so, that's what's been going on in jack's room lately... any tweaking going on at your houses?

wee hands.

oh give me patience when wee hands,
tug at me with their small demands.
and give me gentle and smiling eyes,
keep my lips from hasty replies.
and let not weariness, confusion or noise,
obscure my vision of life's fleeting joys.
so when, in years to come, my house is still,
no bitter memories, it's silence may fill.

i love this poem. it's always in the forefront of my mind when jack hands me the same book time and time again, and i want to say, "REALLY? BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR AGAIN?!" i think about how these moments are so precious and will one day be gone, and i oblige him. anything for that sweet smile.

and when he wants to do things himself? i think about these words and let him take his time. because all we have is time, right? someday he won't be here with me. but for right now, he's mine. and i should soak up every little moment i can.

it almost breaks my heart to think about my house being quiet some day in the future. no toys under foot, no books strewn about the living room, no little voice yelling "DADDA? MOMMA? PUP PUP?" but, as the poem concludes, i would much rather the silence be filled with precious memories instead of regrets.

[as many as i can think of] things.

my dear friend heather requested that i do a version of "twenty-five things" about myself/my thoughts/random observations for a post. truth be told, i don't know if i can think of twenty-five different things about myself to put into list form, but i will certainly try. here goes nothing...

[1] if i wasn't an attorney, i think i would like to be a police detective. or a private investigator. one of my favorite parts of my job is meeting with and talking to my clients. i love the interaction and the getting to the bottom part of what i do.

[2] speaking of police detectives, "the wire" is such an amazing show. stringer bell is deliciously attractive, ps. he makes drug dealing look glamorous. like after i see him, i'm all like, "oh, i could put up with that lifestyle. uhhhh huhhhh, yeah i could be his shawwwwty." which is ridiculous because NO I FRICKIN' COULDN'T. but that's beside the point. the bad part of watching "the wire" for me is that i end up doing exactly what i did the first time i watched it... researching the crime rates in the baltimore city projects, searching old news articles that discuss the problems facing the city and trying to decide just how much of the show is real (most, it seems). inevitably, each 53 minute episode spawns a 37 minute pillow talk discussion with john that goes something like: me: "john, you know how stringer tells d to withhold money from the hoppers to find which one has enough? because that one is the one who's dealing on the side or working with another outfit?" john: sleepily "what are you talking about? what time is it?" me: "i was just thinking that that's a very intelligent way to figure that out. i mean, these people are very savvy business-wise. if someone could go into these projects and offer these people a legitimate business opportunity, they could really be successful." john: "please go to sleep, stephanie. i beg you." and while the conversation might end there, my thoughts on it don't. but i love it so. i'm actually limiting myself to one or two episodes per night so i don't watch the entire series too soon.

[3] does that happen to other people, too? you finish a book or a television series and you feel depressed? happens to me everytime. i guess i form intense bonds with television characters or the heroines/antagonists in the books i read, and when our time together has ended, i always feel that pang of "no, wait, don't go." and i feel out of sorts for a few days because i poured so much time into really getting into the storyline, and now it's over.

[4] speaking of pouring myself into new storylines, bethenny ever after is back for another glorious season. it started yesterday evening, and no, i haven't yet watched the new episode. john came into the kitchen at approximately 8:30 and said, "i have some bad news and some good news. do you want the bad news first?" i looked at him nervously, and then he replied, "well, the bad news is that bethenny ever after started up tonight." "OH NO!" i interrupted, "i thought that was next week, and i didn't DVR...." he continued, "and the good news is that i already set the DVR to record it for you at 11:00." john might publicly shame me for my reality tv watching, but the truth is, he's a very supportive enabler, and i love him for it.

[5] john and i don't watch many shows together. it's not because we don't like the same things. it's because I AM TOO INTENSE ABOUT MY TELEVISION. we did watch "the wire" together the first time around, but when i got to the point of being OBSESSED and feeling that it was perfectly acceptable to watch 8 episodes in a row in one day, i sort of ruined it for john.

[6] i do that with music, too. john is, and always has been, the creative genius behind our music collection. meaning that he does the legwork and spends his time on pandora, the music cable channels and in the library finding great new music for us to enjoy. and then he introduces it to me. and i promptly hate it for 3 days (because i'm a creature of habit), and then i start to sing along with it (*this is how john claims to know i'm about to fall in love with it), and then i play it obsessively and declare my undying love for it. the upside to this obsessive behavior is that particular albums always remind me of a particular phase in my life because i play them so much around that time. and that's sort of nice and nostalgic for me.

[7] speaking of music and nostalgia, i recently got into our escape (which is pretty much john's car) and a cd he had made me back in 2005 was playing. it was christmastime 2005, and he and his family were about to head to germany to visit his brother who was in the army and stationed in stuttgart. i was going to miss being with him over the holidays, and before he left, he gave me a cd that he had made for me. he had made the cd jacket to look like a professional one, and the front cover depicted a little boy giving a girl flowers, and there were lots of random letters on it that i didn't understand. the music was amazing. and then, a few days later, after he had left, i was getting ready to meet some friends at the bar, and the cd was sitting in front of a full length mirror on the ground. and i could read the words, which had been backwards, but in the mirror read, "little bean, you are a great person and an even better girlfriend. i love you." of course, i cried for like 15 whole minutes.

[8] on the day after valentine's day (last wednesday), john and i went out to dinner at a local italian restaurant, mario's. john ordered a steak, and for some unknown reason, i decided to order panzerotti. i had never eaten it before and truth be told, i wasn't really sure of what it was. i still have no idea what i was thinking. when it arrived, it was a deep fried pizza. i took two bites, and the grease overwhelmed me. usually mario's is spot on for me, but i should have known better than to have ordered deep fried dough. john cut his steak in half and we shared it. it was amazing. (the steak and my husband's generosity)

[9] it is also amazing to be able to communicate through words with your baby. i am CONSTANTLY in awe of how much jack is learning. i look at the picture of the little one week old baby he used to be and then i see the boy that's running, laughing and playing in the living room, and i can hardly believe this has happened. if i say "it's time for a bath," he goes to the bathroom, and starts getting undressed. if i say, "let's go up to your room," he's scaling the stairs immediately. if i say, "do you want some milk?" he hightails it to the fridge and waits for me to catch up with him. it's so fun watching him learn and grow.

[10] i like to rotate coffee creamers based on the season. which means now that valentine's day is behind us, i am flavoring with irish cream (in honor of the rapidly approaching st. patty's day).

[11] i did my entire week's worth of grocery shopping at fareway last night. i have stopped in there a few times to grab items here and there, but never completed an entire list there. i like that place. the meat counter men are very helpful. also, the grocery baggers accompany you to your car and pack all your groceries into your vehicle. this is extremely appreciated when you are wrangling an almost 16 month old.

[12] speaking of which, yesterday i settled a big case at work and since i was scheduled to have been out the entire day (and today and tomorrow), i left my office at 2 p.m. to spend some QT with my boys. jack and i accomplished several errands. i brought a little bag of the aldi version of goldfish "shark bites," in case he started getting antsy, and when we got to our last destination (fareway), i was keeping him pacified solely through the use of the tiny cheese crackers. can i confess that i always feel like that's cheating? whenever i do something like that, YOU KNOW - APPEASING MY SON AND EMPLOYING RESOURCES TO KEEP HIM ENTERTAINED - i always feel that twinge of "you should really be able to handle your baby without the use of these aids." that's silly. i know it is. like, do i really expect to be able to keep jack calm and entertained by reciting poetry or something? i'm ridiculous.

[13] i feel that same twinge of whatever-it-is resembling guilt when i buy storebought spaghetti sauce. my mom always used tomato paste to make hers from scratch, adding veggies she grew from her own garden and letting it simmer all day. or at least that's what i remember. i have since discussed this with my mom and she informs that she bought the pre-made sauce now and then. yet another reason i should let that go...

[14] when john and i were engaged, his grandfather was moving into a nursing home, and we drove to his home in indiana to assist him in packing up his things. he gave us a bedroom set of furniture (including a tall dresser, a shorter dresser with a mirror, a beside table and a headboard), our dining room table and chairs and a china hutch. because (as previously noted) i am a creature of habit, i had a difficult 2 - 3 weeks of adjusting to having all this new furniture in our apartment. it did not seem to fit my general design aesthetic, and it made me feel all crazy and out of control for a little while. and now, i love that damn bedroom set. i was on overstock.com looking for a bedside table for our spare bedroom, and i picked one out. when i showed it to john, he said, "it looks exactly like the one in our room." and it did. i have grown to love these pieces, and now i can't ever see picking something else.

[15] i get sentimentally attached to people's houses. like, for example, my friend liz's house. she and her husband bought a foreclosure and did an ENORMOUS amount of work that's resulted in a fabulous end result with a to-die-for kitchen. and she and i have talked about how that's not going to be their forever house. and when i think about it, i get sad. like, "oh, but i love your house, and i love your yard, and i love thinking about the memories of parties and gatherings we've had here, and oh, you can't ever leave." and that's silly. but really, whenever anyone tells me they're thinking of moving, i feel sad/stressed about it for a few hours. maybe even a day or something. isn't that weird? very odd.

[16] speaking of houses, my sister lives in michigan, on this cobblestone street that reminds me of the street that steve martin lives on in father of the bride. whenever we pull up to their house for a visit, i immediately feel all cozy and ready to snuggle up in their living room with a mug of hot chocolate. it's just that kind of vibe in there. so they better not think about moving any time soon. (see #15)

[17] i am not a good swimmer. like i can swim/doggy-paddle for a while, but it has never been my forte. on our honeymoon, we went "scuba-diving," and john was diving way down and looking at an old shipwrecked boat, and i was staying right at the surface, content to peer down with my goggles and observe from afar. i want jack to be able to swim like john. so i should probably get the little guy into swim lessons or something. my parents have a pond at their house, and we spent every summer swimming almost every day in our own private "lake," and still, not a strong swimmer over here. we would float for hours on rafts and noodles and in innertubes, but i just never had to hone my swim-without-a-flotation device skills.

[18] we have a wooden box with blocks in it in our living room. and apparently it did not get moved back under the window were it is normally stored, and i went downstairs in the middle of the night on sunday to put something in the kitchen, and i fell on it. like tripped over it, fell hard, hit my head on jack's wooden play kitchen, sprawled out on the floor, moaning in agony, fell. when i went back upstairs, john was very concerned and asked if i needed stitches. which i didn't. so then he concluded that i was being dramatic. well, it is black and blue and purple now and hurts like hell, so yeah, john, NOT SO DRAMATIC.

[19] when john and i lived down in carbondale, we routinely loved to go to dinner at 17th street bar and grill in murphysboro (a tiny town a few miles west). it was a little hole in the wall place with EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT barbeque. like, national contest, award-winning eats. everytime we go back, which is not often enough, we make it a point to stop and have lunch or dinner, and we make sure to buy some of their bbq sauce and their dry rub to bring home. i was DYING for some bbq last night when jack and i were wandering through fareway, so i brought home some of their bbq pork. it wasn't as good as 17th street, but we both liked it. i immediately missed living in southern illinois for the rest of the night.

[20] i finally got around to unclipping the fabric i've had hanging in my living room and dining room to actually hem for curtains. first i decided to throw everything in the wash in the event that it would shrink a bit. WHY THE HELL DID I DO THIS? the fabric is now so frickin' wrinkly i almost contemplated driving to joann's and buying new stuff. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? i should definitely have just sewed it as is. like i would ever really wash my curtains regularly in the future anyway. who do i think i am, martha stewart herself? i actually offered to buy john the new gun he wants if he irons my curtains. that's how DESPERATE i am to avoid having to do it.

[21] i made a valentine's day garland using some burlap (among other fabrics). it was super cute (i realize i forgot to share it). i also made another st. patty's day garland for my front entryway that involves burlap. i really do think i have a burlap obsession. no matter what happens, i'm all like, "put some burlap on it." got a problem to solve? use burlap.

[22] i got jack this melissa & doug puzzle as part of his little valentine's day treats, and the damn thing is pretty involved. it's like 6 puzzles in one and each piece is a cube with the picture of a different puzzle on each side of each cube. it's pretty awesome, but it takes awhile for me to put it together. i spent 10 minutes last night doing the goldfish one with jack. he wasn't even interested, but it was my own personal mission to complete this puzzle.

[23] going right along with things i bought for my son, i love the kohl's cares program. it's a good cause, and they always include the best children's books for five measly dollars. right now, they have more books by eric carle. of course, we bought them all: the very busy spider; brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? and does a kangeroo have a mother, too? jack apparently shares his mom's bursts of obsession over things because we read each of these books like 5 times a day. he is especially fond of "brown bear, brown bear." uncle chris stopped by last night, and he was not allowed to leave without jack climbing up on his lap and requesting one read-through.

[24] i wish i lived closer to my sister-in-law, oksana. she has a ukrainian accent that makes me feel calm and happy when i talk to her. she's younger than me, but sometimes i swear she seems 20 years older and wiser. wish i could share a cup of coffee or a long island iced tea with her right. now.

[25] i can't believe i actually made it to twenty-five things. i can't believe you actually read all of them. i am about to go consume a lot of food at my firm's fat tuesday potluck. yes, we celebrate this gorge-filled day. and yes, i love it.