Nursery Sneak Peek

Time for a quick peek into little Baby Stewart's room! It's about 95% complete. If she would just get here already, it would be 100% complete, but since I peak in her room about 5,000 times a day, I always find something to change. But everything is pretty well arranged at this point.

Here is her sweet little crib with the counting bird garland I made out of rick-rack. The crib, mattress and clock are all from IKEA. The bird cards are from Land of Nod. The diaper genie was a shower gift. And the rug is from Target, or Tarjay Boutique as we call it at my house, purchased for 25% off! The nursery walls look gray in this picture, but they're actually a really pale turquoise color - Benjamin Moore's Crystalline in zero-VOC, eggshell finish, paint.

Here's a close up of the garland hanging above her crib. Maybe little muffin will like birds as much as her mom and granny do?

This is the opposite corner of the crib. The white sailcloth curtains are from Target. The basket and rocker are both from my Target baby registry (thank you, family). I got the petite square side table from Hobby Lobby with a birthday gift card from my mom. It was marked 70% off - woohoo! The lamp is from Walmart. I ditched the white shade the lamp came with and purchased a red drum shade (also from Walmart) to accent my rug. The sweet quilted pillow is from a lady at Tyler and my old church in Dederick, MO. Her name is Muriel and she makes the most delightful crafts and candles! The wall shelves are picture ledges that we purchased from IKEA. I've been collecting the books over time - some are from my childhood, some were shower gifts and some I bought for a steal on Amazon. 

Isn't this print the cutest? It's from one of my Etsy favorites - trafalgarssquare.

A peek inside her basket - lots of blankets and stuffed animals.

 New knobs from Hobby Lobby. They are very Anthropologie-esque, but lessthan half the price.

 Little dresses - washed and ready.

 Here is the changing table, purchased from Target.com. The baskets are from Target too (imagine that)! I went with pretty baskets, because I LOVE baskets. We can use them in little one's room as she grows, or we can use them to corral different items in any of the other rooms in our house. Right now, they hold diapers, wipes, Desitin and some different bath items. The paper chain was given to me by some of my favorite women in Champaign, IL. Each link has a handwritten prayer for our little family on it. It is one of the most special things about this room.

In the frame is a mother's prayer that my mother-in-law gave me. I'm going to pray different lines of it as I wipe that precious fanny throughout the day.

Close up of the prayer chain.

Baby Update {30 Weeks}

• Every morning, around 6:00 a.m., little muffin has a dance party. I think her favorite dance moves are the macarena and any kind of line dancing (boot-scoot-boogie, electric slide, etc.) Hopefully she will be as smooth as her daddy on the dance floor.

• Sometimes, I get this crazy acid reflux. Like, I'm pretty sure there is a ball of fire in my throat. 

• I've got sleeping down to a science! After several nights of discomfort, I have finally figured out the most comfortable sleep position. If you stick a standard sized pillow between your legs and then have the top tip of the pillow go slightly underneath your belly, you are in good shape! The only trouble happens when you decide to roll over in your sleep and are either awaken because you rolled onto your back and your spine is being crushed by a bowling ball. Or you wake up because you are now treating your spouse as the pillow you once had perfectly situated. Tyler and I have a full size bed and, while neither of us are large people, a full size bed is teeny-tiny when you are growing a human in your belly. Every time I complain about not sleeping well, Tyler reminds me of that day, long ago, when we were in Hank's Furniture shopping for our mattress. It was three months before our marriage and Tyler was sleeping on the floor of our studio apartment. My parents gave us a handful of cash to purchase a bed as a wedding gift, so we were at Hank's trying to score the best deal. My logic was, "Hey, let's buy a full size bed since it's the cheapest and then we can save the money we have left to put towards a kitchen table." I recall Tyler agreeing with the saving money part, but he insists that this is a false memory and that he fought to buy the queen bed. Nevertheless, we are still proud owners of a full size bed. Sorry Ty.  

• The nursery is coming right along. My mother-in-law, grammy and mom purchased the glider from my registry and it arrived in a huge box a few weeks back. It is white wood with a beautiful butter yellow cushion and footstool. Just this weekend, I just purchased a rug I had been eying at Target with some birthday money and a gift card. It is gorgeous and is truly the focal point of the entire room. Now I just have to narrow down all the beautiful artwork I have saved on my Etsy wishlist to a few pieces that I want to hang in Baby Girl's room. When Casie and I went to IKEA back in January, I got these really cool picture ledges that I'm hoping to put interchangeable artwork, children's books and photographs.  Ty is going to help me hang the shelves once he is finished with this semesters' school work. And I got the cutest little square end table from Hobby Lobby that was marked down to $20. I had a $50 gift card that my momma gave me for my birthday, so the table was free. Holla!

• My appetite is increasing and my stomach capacity is decreasing. After supper, it sometimes feels like I am gasping for air. I keep taking these deep breaths and making these loud sighing noises, which is usually what I do when I am feeling frustrated or overwhelmed. The other night while we were sitting on the couch watching a movie, Tyler looked over at me and said, "Is everything okay? Are you upset?" I replied, "Nope. Just trying to breathe." My torso is shrinking into oblivion. No lie.

• I am getting more and more excited about meeting her. I can't wait to see what she looks like. Will she have her daddy's auburn hair? Will she have my big brown eyes?

Monday's Most Wanted

These sweet prints from Trafalgar's Square on etsy:

Don't you think they would look good in our little girl's nursery?

18 Weeks and Counting

This is me reenacting how surprised I was when I came home and saw that Tyler had built the crib.

We are making progress! We painted the room and Tyler assembled the crib the other day while I was at work ::squeal of excitement:: After many failed gray attempts, we went with a soft teal color for the walls - Benjamin Moore's Crystalline AF-485 in their Natura zero VOC paint.And the crib is from IKEA. I love how simple and petite it is. It is perfect for the small bedroom.

Okay, I know you may all think that I'm getting a little ahead of myself. I know that I've still got 5 months until little muffin comes, but, people, you've got to understand my circumstances. 

 

First off, it's like negative 70 degrees outside for the entire month of January and February 'round these parts and I've got to find something to do to keep myself busy. That is why I spend my weekends looking at magazines, browsing Target and IKEA websites, shopping for junk at the Habitat for Humanity Restore so that I can upcycle it into something lovely. I had to start this baby room project while the weather is awful out so that when spring finally gets here, I will have time to build my garden (and by "build," I mean shout commands at Tyler like, "dig here" and "plant there" while I lounge in my plastic adirondack chair and use my growing belly as a tabletop for my ice cold lemonade). 

 

Another reason why we have to get crack-a-lackin' on baby room is because Tyler is a hard workin' man! He works 45+ hours a week at the church and, at the same time, is taking a full load of masters courses this semester. It's not like he's just sitting around on the weekends waiting for his sweet wife to hand him a container of spackle and an electric sander. He's got homework to do and the last thing he needs is to jam pack a bunch of work into his one day a week of study time. So he is committing a few weekends this spring to help me prepare for little Stewart.

 

And remember this post when I poured out my soul and told you my desire to control things? I know I can't control everything, but it sure does help me function at "100% Margo" if my house is in order. Call me crazy, but one of the ways I can prepare emotionally for baby is to tangibly prepare for his/her arrival.

I just cannot wait to hold little one. So until then, I am okay with spending my Saturday mornings praying for baby while I bake blueberry muffins. It feels so magical to walk into the bedroom and try and picture a small baby swaddled up and sleeping in the crib. It makes me so happy to crack open the door and look beyond the construction zone as I imagine myself rocking baby to sleep each night.

Pinecone Garland

For the past few weeks, I've been admiring some lovely garlands and buntings on Etsy and I got the creative itch to make my own! I already had most of the supplies I needed to create the garland I envisioned, except for pine cones. I scoured my block for pine trees so that I could snag some fallen cones, but I couldn't find any. There is a lot of foliage in Champaign, but not so many pine trees. So I headed to Walmart and found a bag of cinnamon scented (bonus!) pine cones for $4 in their Christmas section. I love that Walmart already has Christmas stuff out. I perused each aisle slowly, taking in all of the sparkly ornaments and shimmery ribbon. Eek! I love Christmas!

To make my garland, I used some tweed twine, scissors and five similarly sized pine cones (although, I think the next one I make will be all different shapes and sizes). I wanted to hang my garland from the hutch in the living room, so I measured the width of the hutch and multiplied it by two - that way, the garland would have enough room to be draped from one end of the hutch to the other. Then I cut my twine and started with my first pine cone by simply tying a circle around the top of it. Next, I spaced the next pine cones by about five inches and looped the twine around it and continued to do the same with the remaining three cones. Last, I tied little knots in between each pine cone because I thought it would add a little more texture to the twine. To hang it, I stapled the twine to the top of the hutch (I know that sounds ghetto, but the staples are hidden).

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how simple this project was and how cute it turned out. Pine cones are nice, because they are seasonal and I can hang them all winter long. Here is the finished product:

Monday's Most Wanted

Can you pay my bills?
Can you pay my telephone bills?
Can you pay my automo bills?

- Destiny's Child

Last Monday, we got home after a long day of airport and highway travel to a house that had no water. I thought maybe the pipes had frozen while we were gone or maybe they were working on some pipes in our neighborhood, shut off our water, and then we weren't home for them to make sure it got turned back on. I immediately called the water company to see what the problem was.

Apparently, it had been two months since I had last paid the water bill. I couldn't remember the last time I received a water bill in the mail and I certainly couldn't remember getting a letter that informed me of an imminent disconnection. I felt so ridiculous. We were finally home from a long day of travel and we couldn't even take a shower or flush our toilet. It was awful. And it could have been completely avoided, had I just been a real life adult. The gal on the phone kept saying things like, "I understand that some families may not be able to make a payment in full" or "Just pay as much as you can" and I had to keep reassuring her that we had money, it was just a complete oversight on my end of forgetting to send a check. So I paid the amount in full over the phone and she waved the $50 reconnection fee (::sigh of relief::) since we had always paid our bills on time in the past. Then, she set us up for automatic bill pay at the first of each month. Why didn't I already have automatic bill pay, you ask? Well, because that would be way too easy and I like to make things as difficult as possible. I guess I'm just still living in the early 2000's.

So here's where Monday's Most Wanted comes into the picture. I've decided that my unorganized upper left entryway dresser drawer just ain't cuttin' it anymore. The "toss everything in the drawer" system has failed (imagine that?). While, on the surface, it does a good job keeping the top of the dresser neat and tidy, it does a horrible job sorting mail and important documents. That's why I need this super organizational bill-sorting calendar notebook from redstarINK on Etsy:

The idea is, when you get the bill in the mail, place it in the "pay" pocket and fill in the due date on the calendar. When you pay the bill, move it over to the "paid" side and check it off your list. That's right, you get to check it off! Who doesn't love a good list-check-off!? Thirty smackaroos seems a little steep for the cost of this notebook, so I think I might just create my own using Microsoft Publisher.

What's your bill paying system? And have you ever had something super embarrassing (like getting your water turned off) happen to you?

Beautiful Things

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning is hunt for old junk that I can make awesome. I like to hit the Habitat for Humanity ReStore first and then I head to The Salvation Armies. That's right, we have TWO in Champaign - W. John St. and N. Market St.! Then, the last stop before heading home is usually Lowe's, in case I need some more sand paper, primer or paint.

I think my love for old stuff first began my freshman year of college where I lived next door to, my dear friend, Maria. Maria has this incredible gift of taking old, worn out stuff and transforming it into something stunning. Every time I hear the chorus of  Beautful Things by Gungor, I think of her (not because she makes people out of dust, like God, but because she makes beautiful things out of vintage clothing, worn furniture, dusty antiques, etc.) Click here to see a portrait of her delightful home in Kansas City, including her studio where she runs her own online vintage clothing business - Adelaide's Homesewn. So, thank you, Maria, for teaching me to see the potential for beauty in people's unloved junk. It is my favorite hobby and much cheaper than golf.

Every room in our house has at least one piece of furniture that I found on Craigslist or at Salvation Army, Goodwill or the ReStore. I know Tyler is so thrilled when he gets a text in the middle of his homework or sermon prep that says "I found something for $8.00 at the ReStore. Yippee!"  and he has to spend his afternoon recruiting a buddy to go with him in the church bus to pick up a 100 lbs. piece of crap (they have to use the church bus, because there are a shortage of trucks in Illinois).

Here is a house tour of some my finds:

I always see these chairs when I go antiquing with my mom in the Hill Country, but I can never buy one, because I don't think Southwest Airlines would let me carry it on. I found this cute little lady at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for $7. I've got my eyes peeled for her sister.

This piece was a $35.00 Salvation Army find. I didn't do a darn thing to it. Except wipe it down real good and line the drawers with shelf paper. It houses bills, scarves, table linens and candles and is located immediately to your left as you enter through the front door.

This is probably my favorite piece. It houses all of our fiction books, cookbooks, photo albums, favorite board games, seasonal Better Homes & Gardens magazines and, my favorite, a green notebook full of ripped out pictures and articles with DIY projects and decorating ideas. I just had to touch up a little of the white paint. I also made a backing out of foam board, fabric and a staple gun. Simply measure the back of each shelf, cut the foam board to those measurements, wrap the board like a present (I used a black fabric scrap first and then my pretty patterned fabric to give it a little more dimension).

This dresser is in our bedroom. We used to have two cheap-o IKEA ones, but they didn't make it through the five million moves we made over the course of the past few years. I love IKEA, but when it comes to dressers that you open and shut at least twice a day, the old fashion wooden track ones are the way to go. The bird print, pewter lotus bowl and mirror (pictured above) are all from the ReStore. The mirror is the most recent thrift find. I'd been looking for one just like it all summer and I finally found it yesterday (yay!). I sanded it and painted it with some leftover green paint I had  from the bathroom remodel.

 

Each of these worn out items paints the portrait of my home. Do you have any treasures like this in your home?

Happy Fall Y'all

I've been so busy at work. At Story Time on Tuesdays, we've been talking about all things Autumn...apples, leaves, Halloween. This Sunday, we're beginning a unit on Daniel.There's nothing cooler than a story about a guy being saved from man-eating lions. At Wednesday night 607, we're studying the Old Testament and we just finished our lesson on Noah's Ark. One boy asked me what happened to the dinosaurs. I wasn't sure what to say, because I really don't really know for sure.

 

The next big event for the children's ministry is happening on Columbus Day - Oct. 11th. It's FAMILYPALOOZA! I ordered some decorations and activities from Oriental Trading last week. As I was browsing one of the fifty catalogs that they send me each week, I stumbled upon a pretty interesting craft (see red arrow):

It's the Turkey Drumstick Headband. Only $5.99 for twelve.

Today has been a relaxing Saturday. In between football watching and stew making, I bought some pumpkins! I decided to keep them on display inside only (dawgone squirrels). I love picking out the pumpkins and gourds that are awkward looking. Most people go for the perfectly round, orange ones, but I like the unloved ones - the ones with lots of pumpkin pimples and weird curves. 

 

Tyler is afraid of the white one. It does kind of look like something straight out of The Nightmare Before Christmas. That movie is so weird! 

I also picked up a cute little chalkboard from Prairie Gardens. It goes great with my green polka dot apron that my mom sewed me.

Callie the Cat helped me hang it.

How'd you like to curl up on these bad boys?

Have I got you sitting on the edge of your seat?

Out with the Old

Three weeks ago, Tyler and I bought our FIRST EVER piece of furniture. And it's here!!!! Well, it's not here, but it is at This is It Furniture waiting for us to borrow somebody's truck and come pick it up. Yippee! Our little brown couch that my aunt found on the side of the road treated us well for five faithful years, but we are so excited to finally have a new couch AND a love seat for company to sit on.

Anybody need a Classic Brown Couch?

Crunchy, Sweet, Oven-Baked Goodness

When I was a little girl, it was such a treat to go stay with Grammy and Papa in Fredricksburg, TX. There house was only an hour away, so my brother and I stayed there often on weekends or holidays. I loved getting to ride my bike all around their small town neighborhood, through ditches and alongside creeks. I would go on at least three bike rides a day, with an ice cream break in between. Grammy always had fresh grapes out on the counter that you could pick at all day. There was A&W root beer in the fridge and Bluebell drumsticks in the freezer...mmm...One of my favorite snacks was dried Cracklin' Oat Bran cereal in a bowl. And yesterday, I bought some:

I hope today is as good as my breakfast.

Terrarium Love

I love getting Pottery Barn catalogs in the mail. Let me first explain that Pottery Barn does not send me catalogs because of all of the merchandise I purchase from them. I think I've bought one thing from there - a bag of fake artichokes for $7.99, the day after Christmas. I just request their catalog because I like to ogle over their stuff and try and find similar items (for much cheaper) at TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning or the Thrift Store.

A Pottery Barn catalog is where I first fell in love with terrariums. Then, I saw them again at while purusing Design Sponge online. I just love the idea of all that green naturey goodness bottled up in a jar to display wherever you want. So today, I decided to make my own! Let me preface this how-to by informing you that my terrarium is not very legit. It's fake. All of it. I did not grow anything. But I did find cool sticks and rocks to put in it, straight from my front yard! Here is how I made it...

1. I used a jar (as seen in this post) as my terrarium house. I purchased the jar at Wal-Mart a couple months ago for less than $8.00. Yesss!

2. Then I went to Michael's and bought some dried basil and a bag of assorted moss - totaling around $7.00. 

3. Next, I collected some twigs and rocks from my front yard. I also went to the shed and dug around in the Rubbermaid tub labeled "fall decorations," searching for pine cones. I found some! (Thank goodness I am such a freak about organization and labeling). So I laid the moss assortment in the jar first and then added the cute little pine cones I found in storage.

4. Then, I cut up some sprigs of the dried basil and arranged it in the jar. Next came the twigs and rocks and voila (sp?), I had my very own terrarium! And for less than $15. Take that, Pottery Barn!

Isn't it cute. It's my own little woodland habitat on a shelf. I can't wait to transform it into a winter wonderland after Thanksgiving. I could use cotton balls at the bottom for my snow. And maybe I will make a snowman out of foam balls and sit him on top of the snow. And then I could hang snowflakes from the jar's lid. I think I will have to use some silver glitter too....I love all the seasonal possibilities my terrarium has. 

"The Squirrel House"

When Tyler and I started the search for our house last June, we kept track of the different houses we viewed by remembering specific characteristics about each house. For example, there was "The Pee Stain House." What was the specific characteristic about that house you ask? Well, there were pee stains all over the carpet in the living room and in the loft upstairs, there was a toilet and sink in the corner of the room with no doors. Yikes. Then there was "The Expensive House." That was the house that I loved but, you guessed it, was too expensive. There was "The House the I Would Be Scared to Be Alone In.," "The House With No Dishwasher," "The House with Old Crappy Windows," and lastly, there was the "Squirrel House."

"The Squirrel House" was named so, because as we were touring the corner lot with our realtor, Molly Jones,  a couple squirrels came running across the side of the house. My thought was that they would jump onto the fence or run up a tree, but instead, they just ran right up close to us. I thought one of them might run up my leg. Now, I think little bushy tailed squirrels are cute, but not when they get that close. Eek! Molly thought that maybe we had a neighbor that fed them and that was why they were so friendly. I like friendly, but I do not like rabies.

During the house search, we kept coming back to "The Squirrel House." Not because of the squirrels, of course, but because of the new carpet and roof, the washer and dryer, the kitchen and the dreams Tyler and I had of what that house could become. So here we are, a year later, living in our first home - "The Squirrel House."

That brings me to today. When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I like to do after a shower is open all of the curtains to let the natural light it. Well today, as I opened the kitchen blinds, I saw a squirrel with one foot the chicken wire fence that protects (?) our garden and one foot on the tomato cage that houses a ton of ripening tomatoes. That's right, this squirrel was somehow straddling one square foot of my box garden and gnawing on some of my tomatoes. Grrr! So I run outside and holler at him to get away from my garden. After sufficiently putting the fear of Margo in them, I went back inside to start some laundry. Thursdays are Tyler and my day off and I usually run to Dunkin' Donuts and grab Ty and coffee and some munchkin donuts. I know, I am so sweet. So I head out the back door and as I'm opening the Volkswagen door, something catches my eye. It was a squirrel perched on our back fence WITH A TOMATO IN HIS HANDS. He was no further than six feet away from me. That little stinker! I spent months cultivating the ground, watering and pruning those tomato plants and instead of getting to savor my tomato with some olive oil and salt and enjoying it piece by piece, this little jerk is chowing down! It was like in a cartoon when one of the characters eats corn on the cob and it looks like a typewriter carriage rapidly sliding back and forth. There was tomato shrapnel flying everywhere. The worst part was that it seemed like he was looking right at me while scarfing my delicious tomato. I was just waiting for him to flip me off, mid bite, with his little squirrel hands. Ugh, the nerve of him! The picture I took with my camera phone is so poor, but it gives you an idea. The arrow I inserted will help you find him the chubby cheeked criminal. Do you see the red?

Cayenne Pepper is on my grocery list today. I sprinkled some around my garden at the beginning of summer and I think it's time for a second dose. That will teach 'em! What kind of critters do you battle at your house? And let me know of any tricks you have to keep them away.