On safari........

Our friends Tim & Theresa invited us over to their fabulous house last Friday night.  We'd been trying to figure out a time to get together for quite a while, and we'd never been over to their house before, so we were pretty excited to finally have something come together.  Tim and Theresa also collect taxidermy, but we had no idea how crazy their collection was!  It was so extensive, and they've only been collecting for about 5 years - that's the really amazing part (because this is a collection that looks like it took a lifetime to amass).  Here are some pictures from our night.  We started with a tour of their home (and various collections, which also include a bathroom filled with vintage medical instruments).  You could spend hours here just looking around, and you'd have lots of company staring at you!

Tim & Theresa's real life cat, Bailey, with no longer alive friend.

Tim and Theresa

Julian, Heidi, Theresa & Tim at dinner (Country Bill's).

This week in the kitchen & on the patio

I just thought I'd post some pics of different dishes and baked goods that I/we made this week.  If anyone wants a recipe just post a comment and let me know.

Pumpkin pancakes (my 1st real from scratch pancakes) - OMG, so good!

This was dinner, rosemary potatoes, eggs, pumpkin pancakes & veggie sausage

     

Orange cream cheese muffins

Malted sandwich cookies

Lemony penne w/parmesan, fresh green beans & pistachios

Orzo w/baked shrimp, feta & dill

Some of my family came over on Saturday night to take advantage of the beautiful night and hang on our patio.

Scarlett feeding Doritos to the dogs (Matt and Christian supervising)

Scarlett w/Todd aka "Daddy".  She's making up for kicking Daddy in the jewels earlier.

My beautiful sisters, Emily (left) and Anne  (right)

Scarlett making her newest cute face



Baby stuff on the cheap - the challenge

So most of you know that Julian and I are having a baby (due date is September 8th).  I've set out to try and aquire as much stuff as cheaply as possible.  Once I make something a goal I just latch onto it, kind of like when we got married so many years ago (9/02) and decided it would be a DIY punk rock wedding.  When we decided not to spend too much money on a wedding we really went for it and spent hardly any - yet had the most amazing wedding ever (thanks to our awesome friends and family that pitched in of course).

Plus used and vintage stuff can have so much more character than just buying used stuff that everyone else also has. 

Here is what we've bought so far that is used (and sometimes vintage):
Dresser (I repainted it and put new knobs from Rejuvenation on it)
Bookcase (I repainted this)
Vintage shelving unit (I also repainted this)
Elephant lamp (Julian had to replace the interior lighting, but that was cheap)
Baby Bjorn carrier
Baby monitor
Bathtub
Bouncy seat (identical to the new one already bought, will return new one)
Diaper covers (10 pack for only $35!) for new cloth diapers
Blankets (swaddling, receiving)
Hooded towels
Clothes (all sorts, plus hats, socks & bibs)

Here are things that friends/family have given us so far:
Bassinet (thank you Liby & Krystin)
Breast pump (thank you Liby)
Rocking chair (from Julian's parents many years ago, but getting repainted)
Play chair (thank you Mom) - I'm not sure what these are technically called
Many, many clothes from newborn - 4T (thank you Trang, my lovely boss)

I'm sure we'll have more used stuff to add to the list before this is over!  Plus I will be posting pics of our nursery in progress (Julian's amazing paintings are progressing nicely) and of course once it's finished.

I'm baaaaack!!

So sorry for the long silence.  As many of you know there has been a lot going on and I have not been up for even thinking about this blog for a while.  But things are getting somewhat back to normal and I'm going to try to keep updating this blog a lot more regularly now.

In May my sister (Emily) had a seizure suddenly and found out she had a brain tumor.  For the past month things have been crazy.  Coping with that news has taken its toll and within 2.5 weeks of receiving the news she had surgery to remove the tumor.  The surgery went really well and she didn't have any complications.  Then she was at St. Vincent's for a week and a half before being moved to Providence's acute rehab center for another week.  She had temporary paralysis in her left leg, as was anticipated because the tumor was in the motor skills part of the brain.  But she's continued to slowly regain use of that leg and is walking again (with the aid of a walker or cane).   With continued physical therapy she'll regain full use of that leg again, but it's going to take time, work and patience. 

Over this past weekend we moved Emily and her boyfriend, Matt, into a new apartment they'll share in the same complex as her current apartment.  This will allow for them to share the rent and Matt will be there to help get her around.  She can't drive for at least 6 months due to the seizure (and she's currently on anti-seizure medication).  Wow, that was a big job to get them moved.  But her apartment is now empty and Matt just has some smallish stuff to move over this week.  One moving job done!!!!

Next up will be moving my Mom.  Some of you know that Julian and I just bought a home to rent to my Mom.  The house is close to her current house, and is smaller but in much better shape (and cheaper!!).  It's in good shape and will be easy to maintain.  We take possession on 7/15 and the first thing we're doing is replacing the flooring.  My Mom picked out new really cool retro-style linoleum for the dining room, kitchen and laundry room and new carpet for the living room and hall should we need it.  We may not need the carpet if the hardwoods are in decent shape.  Then we'll be moving her in around the end of the month.  She's lived in her current house for about 15 years so it will be a big task. 

Thank goodness for having such a big family - I appreciate them all the time, but they are invaluable when it comes to joining forces for moving each other, not to mention anything else we need help with.  Everyone is amazing about stepping up and helping out.  My siblings, our significant others and family ROCK!