Gearing up for Mexico

We leave for Cancun, Mexico tomorrow and I can't wait for the warmer weather! 

CP and I contemplated cancelling the trip while I was furloughed but decided that even if I was still shutdown that we would go. The flights were made with points, the hotel is through a timeshare that my parents have, and my MIL was flying in from NH to join us on the trip. If I still hadn't been paid that just would have meant a lot of rice and beans for meals and probably just sticking to the pool instead of venturing out, but now we don't have to worry about that!

I had some birthday money and saw a few things that I thought would be super cute for our trip. The first was this swimsuit from Summersalt. I kept getting Instagram ads for the suits and they were intriguing but the suit is so cute! Thankfully when it arrived at my house and I tried it on I loved it!

I also saw this dress in a ModCloth Facebook ad and thought it was so pretty! Definitely something that I can also wear to work this summer. It's very flattering and I can't wait to wear it next week!

As you guys know I had plantar fasciitis for much of the year last year and as the weather gets warmer I plan on running outside more than I currently have been (3 times outside so far this year). Last fall I saw these flip flops on heavy sale at DSW and snatched them up. Are they the cutest flip flops I have ever seen? No, but the name (Cloudsteppers by Clark's) is correct- they are SO COMFORTABLE. Part of the problem with flip flops is that they have no support for your feet and these feel spongy and supportive.

Bring on the warmer weather!

As always I was not paid or asked to blog about these items. They are just cute things that I found and wanted to share with others.

Caffeine hunt

In my never ending quest to ingest enough caffeine into my body to stay awake during the day, I have found some new products that work great AND are low in Weight Watcher points.

If you have been reading long enough, you know that this has been an ongoing quest for quite some time. When Starbucks came out with the Refreshers, I was instantly smitten because soda and chai lattes were simply not enough caffeine. I have been drinking those for a while, but they don't have THAT much caffeine in them and it turns out that they are 3 WW points each.

So what can I recommend?

I was recently down in St. Louis for a work trip and was looking for something to keep me awake during very boring meetings. I happened to see this at the grocery store and picked it up in the hopes that it would help. This is good for the afternoon pick-me-up when you don't need a huge jolt of caffeine, but something to wake you up. I like it better than powdered stuff because you just squeeze the liquid into water- no need to stir! Pro tip- I also tried the Blue Citrus version and I like the Orange Tropical Fusion better.

Zero WW points!

Randomly a sorority sister reached out to me about this product after seeing me complain about caffeine on Facebook. Advocare is a MLM company so the annoying thing about this is that I have to order online and get it shipped to my house instead of finding it in the stores. However, it has tons of caffeine (120mg) and is great for hot days when you don't want hot coffee. I like the Fruit Punch or Mango Strawberry flavors.

Zero WW points!

The next product I happened to taste only because they were handing it out as samples at Union Station in Chicago as I walked to work. I took one thinking that I would absolutely hate it because it was going to taste too much like coffee and it was cold. However, when I got to work and tried it, I actually liked it. Good before long car rides as it doesn't make you need to pee 10 minutes after consuming it. The only drawback is the price- I have been able to find them for 2 for $5 which is pretty steep.

Two WW points

Finally, the best and lowest point creamer that I have found has been the one below. Coffee Mate's Sugar Free French Vanilla liquid creamer (the powder creamers are gross in my opinion). I can put 3 tablespoons of this stuff in coffee and it is only one WW point!

What is your favorite way to ingest caffeine? :-) Have you tried any of these products?

***As always, I have not been asked to review these products OR compensated for blogging about them. Just wanted to let other caffeine-challenged folks know about them if they are interested!***

Just F*cking Doing It Club

Two nights ago I was up until 1am crying and anxious because how was I going to deal with having two kids? How was I going to juggle work, kids, Buster, etc. especially when CP is traveling? I should be cherishing the time that we have left as a family of three, instead I am feeling guilty because I am tired and annoyed. 

Yesterday I went to see my primary care physician about my foot. 10 days later I'm still limping and in pain so it was time to make sure that I didn't do something silly to it. After an appointment and X-rays, it was deemed by a student doctor that I didn't have a break that they could see in my foot but maybe I have a tiny stress fracture? And that the slight bit of extra fluid in my feet and the extra weight due to pregnancy are not helping. Their answer? Ice and Rest. Okay, so I will continue to suck it up as I have been and continue to get sh*t done.

Later in the day I had an appointment with my OB and talked to her about the possibility of getting postpartum depression if I didn't have it the first time. I have been more emotional this pregnancy and my google searching while up crying the other night didn't yield any answers. My OB's response was that it would be highly unlikely to get PPD if you didn't have it the first time, however, with a second baby there will likely be more anxiety and guilt. For instance, I could get anxious if both kids are crying so it was important to use my support network to help with Izzy while I am busy with the baby- especially before Baby Boy has a schedule. 

That didn't really make me feel any better, but reading this article- The Just F*cking Doing It Club- helped me a bit because it is so true. Once I had Izzy I was asked numerous times how I fit everything in. You just do. You figure out what works for you and you just do it because you have to. And that is what I will do once I have two kids.  I'll figure out what works for me and just f*cking do it.

Good and Bad

Good: Izzy is feeling much better after her tough Superbowl Sunday ear infection. She is back to normal.

Bad: CP has now come down a fever/sore throat combo which kept him out of work yesterday and had him come home halfway through the day on Monday. He is headed to the doctor today and hopefully he starts to feel better soon.

Good: Last year we set up a dependent care account through my work. The max we can put in is $5000 but we almost quadruple that amount in daycare expenses. I submitted the forms last week and we already got paid! That money allowed us to pay off our car loan on the Prius (we had already paid the car off before but took out another low interest loan through our credit union to pay for siding our house a few years ago). Now we are back to one car payment again. YAY!

Bad: This weekend as I was backing out of our driveway in the minivan I was veering away from the Prius but hit a small retaining wall, scratching up and slightly knocking the front bumper (on one side) out of whack. I was so pissed. The leftover amount of money from the dependent care claim will likely go towards fixing it. Ugh.

Good: We leave for Hawaii in two days! Izzy is very excited to wear her "swimming suit" and to not have to wear a coat or hat. Me too kiddo.

Bad: Nothing bad about a vacation!!

Good: On Monday Izzy's daycare had an in-service day and I had the day off so we had a mommy-daughter day where we went to the local children's museum. Izzy spent most of the time doing crafts that she was super proud of. In addition, we went to the fabric store where Izzy picked out the fabric that I will eventually make into curtains for her new room. I also got blackout material to sew onto curtains in our sunroom to make them heavier to hopefully trap more heat in the room.

Painting with colored ice

Gluing onto a mixed-media masterpiece

Bad: She didn't take a nap that day so she was a little nuts that night. Her napping has gotten better though and I don't think that she is ready to drop her nap just yet (thank goodness).

Good: Recently we signed Izzy up for Highlights the magazine (High Five- the toddler version). Not only does Izzy love getting something in the mail on a monthly basis ("it's mines?"), but she loves the content in the magazine as well! CP and I remember getting Highlights as a kid so we were happy to order it for her. For our big plane ride we got Izzy a book of hidden pictures so hopefully that keeps her busy for a while. (Not being paid to promote this but thought it was a good idea for other toddler parents.)

Bad: We have to read the same magazine every single night. :-/

Good: I have now been outed to my neighbors as being pregnant and everyone is excited. We had a wine party on Saturday night and early on one of the wives noticed that I wasn't drinking. She quietly asked, I said yes, then she announced to everyone the big news (I didn't want to do a big announcement so I was more than happy for her to do it).

Bad: I had let one of the other IVF neighbors know the week before that I was pregnant (she is done having kids) and she was super excited, but didn't get to talk to the other one (tried to have a second kid through IVF and it never worked- now is divorced). I didn't get a chance to speak to her that night so I hope that she is okay.

Good: My job application went in last week and I was selected as one of the best qualified candidates so my boss received my application package (we have a weird way of doing things around here). Yay! Hopefully I will get scheduled for an interview soon.

Bad: My boss literally just came to my door and said that they have to make a decision on the position by February 29th- the day that I get back into the office from vacation. So it looks like I might either have to interview tomorrow or while I am on vacation. Not ideal but if it has to be done, it has to be done. Guess I won't have to out myself as pregnant before the selection is made!

Good finds

Let's talk about something else, shall we? As the holiday and winter season approaches, I wanted to share some of my good finds recently.

I was in the market for a new colder weather jacket...not to replace my huge North Face jacket, but one that would be a good in between jacket (I had been wearing my ski jacket which worked but I don't want to completely wear it out). I searched online and thought that the LL Bean jacket here would work- and I was right. Lightweight but able to withstand wind and cold it was perfect! It also folds up into itself which is helpful for packing purposes. I bought this one:

Staying with LL Bean (because I love their high quality and the fact that they stand behind their products), I picked up these gloves at the same time and I am obsessed! They are so soft and warm! 

If you are like me, your lips get very chapped in wintertime, even if you put Chapstick on. I loved the Mary Kay lip scrub that I bought years ago from a friend but didn't want to try to find a consultant so I checked out Amazon. Sure enough this scrub came up and It works great!

Although the marketing picture is a little scary....

Recently CP and I have been eating less meat...partly as a way to save money and partly because it is healthier. If you are looking for a good vegetarian cookbook, we have enjoyed cooking from the America's Test Kitchen book:

Need something to binge watch? CP and I blew through "Master of None" the new Netflix show. 

Need a good Podcast to listen to? I highly enjoy either the Beat Infertility podcast, Jesse vs. Cancer, or Limetown. At times Limetown has annoyed me because the characters are overacting but the concept is super cool and it keeps me very entertained.

As always I was NOT asked to review nor paid to post about these items. I just wanted to share my good finds!

Have you found anything good recently?

Wednesday bullets

*This summer I have seen a TON of pregnant women. Unlike two years ago or even when I was pregnant, but not showing, I am not jealous of the women. I do look at the bellies though, marveling at how funny they look with a basketball under their shirt- despite the fact that I was in the same boat just last summer! What a great summer to be pregnant though- at least here in Chicago it has been in the 70s or 80s every day except for a few hotter days (this is NOT typical).

*Yesterday I went to CVS on my lunch break and bought a few things, including a new bottle of prenatal vitamins. I continued to take them while I was nursing and have decided to continue to take them. If I am hoping to do a frozen transfer of my one and only embryo in January, that's only 5 months away. I might as well stay in the habit of taking them...I've been on them for 4+ years anyway! So as I was checking out, the clerk asked if I was pregnant. First off, I hope that I don't LOOK pregnant, but seriously what a forward question! I told her that no, I had a baby and just lied and said I was still nursing. Then she mentioned that she heard that taking prenatals keeps women from getting pregnant.  Ummm what?  Weird lady.

*I have been using my train commutes recently to use the app Duolingo. It's a FREE app to help you learn a language. I am using it to brush up on my Spanish before we head to Spain in December and it's awesome. It's mainly my vocab that needs refreshing so it's perfect!

*The piece of technology that is pissing me off the most is my Nike Fuelband. I haven't been able to sync it with my iPhone via Bluetooth in probably a month. It's really annoying.

*I randomly saw an ad on Facebook for Ecodu. It's a company that created a kit to turn an old formula canister into a play toy. I love re-using things and even better that it was a play toy that we didn't have for Izzy! At eight months she doesn't get the concept of putting the pieces into the circle/square/etc slots but she loves to chew on the pieces and play with the canister! (Note: they have kits for the major brands, not just Similac.) 

Izzy and her Similac/Ecodu canister 

*We have yet to baby-proof the house now that Izzy is crawling. I want to strike a balance between keeping her safe and not over-doing it. I worry if we over baby-proof that she won't actually learn not to touch certain things. CP ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon and it should arrive here in time for us to do some baby-proofing when he gets back from Thailand.

*Unfortunately most of my pictures from the White House event I attended while I was in DC include me in them so I'm not going to post them, but Izzy got a souvenir from my trip! I was hoping to hit the White House gift store that supposedly has items that you can't find in the regular shops but sadly it closed before I was able to get there.  :-(  

I couldn't resist.  :-)

Oh and I also got to see Michelle Obama speak while I was in DC which was awesome!!

FLOTUS!!!

She is clearly reaching for me...  :-)

*This past weekend was the first time I felt old at a wedding. My cousin got married and although she is only 7 years younger.....it made quite a difference. The couple had a hashtag for people to talk on Twitter/Instagram about their wedding, they played music I had never heard at the reception, etc. It was the first wedding since I turned 21 where I didn't really drink which I'm sure didn't help. (I had to drive home from the city by myself- it was our first time leaving Izzy with a babysitter that was not my parents! We found the babysitter at our daycare- she claims that Izzy is her favorite and that she would quit her job to be Izzy's nanny if we wanted her to. The good news is that everything went great and Izzy had a big smile on her face when the babysitter showed up at our door.)

*Speaking of how awesome Izzy is, she was a total trooper the night before the wedding. My cousin invited us to the rehearsal dinner so that everyone could meet Izzy and she was such a hit! Luckily she took a late nap during the car ride downtown because dinner didn't start until 9pm and we didn't head home until 11 or so. She was up the entire time and absolutely fantastic. No crying, fussing, etc. Just smiling, happy, and excited to get some of mommy's dinner! She did have a bunch of random wake-ups throughout the night but settled down by herself so I didn't have to get up. Honestly, best baby ever.

Izzy in her rehearsal dinner outfit.  The bracelet is from a friend of the family who got it in Cambodia (I guess baby jewelry is a thing there?)

*Finally, I wrote most of this post yesterday but now when I am finishing it up to post it, I want to cry.  Not only did Izzy have a bad night of sleep- she cried out four different times last night- two of them I needed to go into her room to calm her down, but CP called this morning to let me know that he has to stay in Thailand for an extra week.  I was really looking forward to him coming home on Friday but now it will be THREE WHOLE WEEKS that he is away this trip.  I am not coping well with this news.

Products I love

Every once in a while I like to blog about certain products that I am loving at the moment.  While these certainly change with the seasons and what is going on in my life, here are a few that I would highly recommend.

Nike Fuel Band

My sister had an extra Nike Fuel Band and gave it to me right after the New Year.  I was excited to start using it because it's a good way to track how much you are moving and exercising that day.  I have an earlier edition so my Fuel Band tracks my activity that day, the number of calories I have burned, and the number of steps I have taken. (The latest model can remind you to get up and move every hour and can also track your workout sessions.)  The Fuel Band syncs with my iPhone so I can see extra information on the app. I also like the look of the Fuel Band.  It's not too big and it fits perfectly on my wrist.

L'Oreal Evercreme Shampoo and Conditioner

During pregnancy your hair is supposed to be shiny and look fantastic 24/7.  My hair on the other hand...well, it felt like straw most of the time.  I did get a deep conditioning treatment once at my salon which helped, but for the most part I used a deep conditioner two times a week at home and just gave up on my hair.  Once Izzy arrived, my hair became even MORE dry and I thought that it might be the start of the dreaded crazy hair loss that women often complain about after delivery.  Well, so far I don't have the hair loss, but I have found a product that has restored the shine and silky texture to my hair.  If you have dry hair I can HIGHLY recommend this product.  Another plus? It doesn't have some the chemicals that I try to stay away from in my beauty products.

Eczema Aveeno cream

After delivering Izzy the skin on my face became red and itchy. I don't know if it is a post-partum issue made worse by the ridonkulously cold weather we are having in Chicago this winter- frankly I'm hoping that it is so that it goes away at some point.  But it certainly seemed like I had eczema!  I didn't have time to see a dermatologist, so I checked out reviews on various eczema products and decided on these two- one is a wash that I use in the shower, the other a lotion that I use after I get out of the shower. I don't think that they are necessarily for my face, but my itching has stopped and the redness is not as bad.  

My Brest Friend

When I was registering, everyone I knew recommended the Boppy.  I ended up getting one at a consignment sale and buying a new cover for it.  When I visited the lactation consultant she recommended My Brest Friend instead and I tried it out during our session.  It was so much easier!!  Despite the name, it really is the better product for nursing.  

Simple Wishes Hands Free Bra

(not me)

Yep, it certainly looks weird but it does the job!  I had the choice of this bra or the Medela Hands Free and the lactation consultant suggested this one.  It has an extra panel that you can use or remove when your weight fluctuates.  

**As always, I was not asked to endorse, review, or sent any of these products, nor was I given any money to blog about these products (too bad- daycare is expensive!).**

Have you been using anything recently that you love?

An ode to my Snoogle

My pregnancy book advised me at 16 weeks to stop sleeping on my back because in some women the uterus cuts off blood flow and a person can pass out.  (My doctor said that it's more like 20 weeks and it's doesn't happen to all women.)  It's also not great for the baby. Knowing that I wanted to be safe, and also knowing that I would be pretty unhappy sleeping on just my sides for the rest of the pregnancy, I knew that I needed some help.  

I had heard about pregnancy pillows and thought that they sounded a little silly until IRL friends told me how awesome they really were.

Image found here

Oh, Snoogle, how I love thee.

I'm so glad that I picked you up at a maternity store.  I didn't even tell CP that I was buying you- it was quite a surprise just how big you were when I took you out of the packaging.  CP is not a fan of you because you do take over a lot of the bed, but I certainly am.  Or, he says that he is not a fan, but if he gets in bed before I do, he has been caught snuggling up to you.

Right now I sleep with the "c" at my back, use the top part as my head pillow and put part of you between my legs (similar to the top picture).  I do my best to sleep as much on my left side as possible, but sometimes I switch it up and sleep on my right (like the bottom picture).  I was excited to see that you should be helpful after my C-section as well!

You do make it a bit harder to get out of bed to pee in the middle of the night.  And I end up doing a whole lot of flopping around when I turn from side to side, but it is all well worth it.

Truthfully, I'm not sure how easy it is going to be to give you up once the baby comes.....

*I was not asked to review this product nor given compensation for this post.  But I would highly recommend it!*

Randoms

Wishing and hoping this week goes by quickly.  My next doctor's appointment is Thursday and I just want to see/hear the baby already!  It's been three weeks and although my body has definitely grown in the belly area, I still need some reassurance.  In the meantime, I hope the week flies by because I am so busy at work and am looking forward to the weekend- time with CP, the dogs, and my parents at their house in Michigan!

*Friday was CP's 37th birthday.  Wow I am married to an old man!  (Just kidding....I'll be 35 in December so I'm not too far behind him!)  He doesn't make a big deal out of his birthday, but I thought it would be funny to give him some joke gifts before his big present (a bike).  He is the complete opposite of me who calls my birthday my "Pretty Princess Day" simply to annoy him.  :-)

I stumbled across this shirt a few months ago and luckily remembered to pin it to a secret "gift" board on Pinterest.  He loves bacon and he is a chemical engineer.  A PERFECT shirt for him.

Found here  

He was a little confused when he opened up the package for this item because he didn't see the Sriracha bottle on the right side, but he loves that damn hot sauce!

Found here

*This weekend I bought my first pair of maternity pants and WHAT THE HELL WAS I WAITING FOR??  They are the most comfortable things in the entire world!  I went to both Motherhood Maternity and Pea in the Pod and laughed at the prices at Pea.  $99 for a pair of pants that I will only wear until late November?  I don't spend that much on non-maternity pants!  I have also tried Old Navy, but my local store doesn't have much of a selection.  I know that I can try online, but I like to try things on before I buy them.

*Tomorrow I am officially four months pregnant!  Wow.  It's like it's actually real or something.

*Fuzzy Britches had her ACL surgery 4.5 weeks ago and she is finally starting to look and act more like herself.  Her nickname is currently "Hobbles" but is putting more weight on her leg when she walks.  She has a follow up appointment next week and I hope that the vet tells us that she is doing well.

I was NOT paid NOR asked to review either product in this post.  I just thought they were funny and wanted to share them with my readers.  

New food

This weekend CP and I tried Guatemalan food for the first time.  He has been traveling to a number of Latin American countries for work and has discovered papusas.  He then took it upon himself to drive us down to a papusa restaurant highly rated by Yelpers for lunch on Saturday.  Good thing I still have my appetite these days!

I started out by getting a banana shake which was not as thick as a milkshake, but refreshing and light.  The restaurant also brought us hot horchata which I had never had before.  It's a drink that has rice in it and it's sweet and delicious.

Horchata picture from here (link includes recipe) 

When CP first described papusas they sounded like empanadas which I LOVED when I lived in Argentina, but when I tasted them they are more like quesadillas.  Except instead of tortillas on the outside, the "dough" is masa harina (what is used in tamales).  My papusa was a vegetarian which CP promised would have a lot of cheese (right now I'm really big on cheese), along with zucchini in it.  He got one with Guatemalan flowers in it and then one with chicharrones (aka fried pork belly).  Papusas usually come with what looks like a coleslaw mix to put on top.  

Picture from here

I had to take some of my meal home because the shake, chips and salsa and the horchata drink filled me up before my meal even arrived!  The best part was the meal was so inexpensive!!

I can definitely see CP and I trying to make papusas in the near future.  If you want an easy recipe I found one here.  As with empanadas and tamales, you could easily put whatever you want inside the dough!

Have you tried some new foods recently?

Pinning

With CP out of town, I have been busy keeping my mind off the upcoming IVF cycle by pinning and then making items!  After my holiday crafting blitz I have been a little lazy on the crafting side, but home improvement is enough “crafting” for me these days.  We are desperately trying to finish off the kitchen before we have friends over for the Superbowl on Sunday. 

Frankly, my pictures are never as good as the person who took the time to stage their food, so most of these pictures will be from the Pinterest pin.  :-)

For a work holiday party, I ended up making these cheesecake stuffed strawberries.  Holy crap they were good (and really easy).  The only caution I have for you is to make sure that you make them the day of the event.  I made mine the night before and the strawberries were a little mushy.

Recipe here

I made these pretzel bites for a friend’s holiday party.  I ended up making both the cinnamon sugar and the parmesan bites.  I had NO idea what Rhodes Roll dough was and if I had more time I would have made the dough myself….instead I just used Pillsbury dough and they came out great!  I would absolutely make them again.

Recipe here

 Although it’s not quite the season right now for some of these veggies, this Summer Veggies with Basil Quinoa Salad was delicious.

Recipe here

Last week I wanted a casserole, but also wanted it to be something that was really easy to put together.  I found this recipe for a Chicken, Spinach and Pasta Casserole.  I used rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods, fresh spinach (instead of frozen), and threw in some fresh mushroom into the dish.  It was tasty and easy to put together.

Recipe here

I can’t remember if I told you guys about this Chicken dish, but in case I haven’t, I’m posting it here.  This is a fantastically easy marinade and even though I’m not a huge fan of mustard, I could eat a whole lot of this chicken.

Recipe here

I love making soup in the fall, winter or spring.  I could seriously eat it every day.  I happen to LOVE corn chowder so I thought that I would make Quinoa Corn Chowder.  The soup is just okay- it seemed to be missing something- maybe a spice?  I ended up putting some Tony Chachere’s seasoning into the soup and it was better. 
 

Recipe here

CP bought me three beautiful silk scarves in Thailand on his work trip (I’m wearing my favorite one today and even took a crappy iPhone picture of it- see below ).  I used this handy scarf-tying guide to figure out different ways to tie my new scarves!

Finally, if you are looking for a delicious and healthy breakfast, look no further.  The baked eggs with spinach dish that I pinned was really easy because I had all of the ingredients on hand!  This is definitely a breakfast I will be making again.

Recipe here

Have you pinned anything interesting lately that you would like to share?

Christmas cartoon

Does anyone else subscribe to The Oatmeal?  The guy is seriously talented and hilarious.  He re-posted a cartoon he drew a few years ago on how different age groups celebrate Christmas.  The "30-somethings without kids" cartoon is especially spot-on.

View the cartoon here.

ENJOY!

MIL visit

My mother in law has been in town since Thursday night.  While I really like my MIL, spending 6 days and 5 nights with her has been quite enough.  Because CP was traveling last week, I had her all to myself on Thursday and Friday until CP walked through the door around 9pm. 

I don’t want to be mean because I really do like her but this is a looooong trip.  I haven’t even had one hour to myself (or with CP)- other than sleeping of course- since she got here.  My hope was that yesterday CP would take his mom to the Botanic Gardens and that I could claim that I wanted to do something around the house and just get some alone time.  Nope.  My MIL decided that she wanted to help out with the home renovations so she helped me strip wallpaper in our living room.  It’s great that she helped out because she has experience with removing wallpaper, but still.  It’s definitely something that I could have figured out myself.

This has been a tiring weekend, not just because I have had to be “on” for the past six days.  I have found myself a little testy- possibly from the birth control pills?  Maybe from the same stories that are told over and over again?  (Thankfully, this phenomenon has been a little better since we moved away because there is more to “catch up” on.  If CP and I had to hear the same story about my MIL and her husband holding hands and then their cat coming over to place her paw on their hands so that she could hold hands too….well I was going to SCREAM.  We actually used to have bets on how often the story would get told in a single weekend when we would go to see them.)  I have definitely had to use my “take a couple deep breaths” technique a few times.

The bright spot of the long weekend?  Well, now the trip is almost over and we won’t see her again until some time in 2013.  Also, these:

My new slippers from the Field Museum.  They are AMAZING.  Both warm and hilarious at the same time.  They definitely make me giggle every time I look down.

BEST. PURCHASE. EVER.

Should I start wearing these to doctor visits?  :-)

Making progress

You know how I was complaining that we didn't have any countertops?  Well, I called the company yesterday to tell them that CP had installed the metal piece and asked them to work their magic because we really need a working kitchen.  Work their magic they did- the company called late yesterday afternoon to tell me that the installers would be arriving this morning.  Happy dance!

Get ready for pictures!!

Here is what the kitchen cabinets looked like before spray painting them.  At this point we had the floors refinished and the new double oven installed.

Here are the top cabinets- same ugly yellow color yet they inexplicably have wood cabinet doors.  You can see the wood side piece on the right side of the picture.  

CP worked hard to spray paint all of the metal a creamy white color.  We also took out the hood and the cabinet on the left in the previous picture (hood wasn't working).

CP then built a soffet between the cabinets so that we could hang our microwave/hood combo.

Yay for a working microwave (he still needs to finish the soffet but we need to get the electrician in the house to install a socket in the soffet to plug the microwave in.  CP tried to do it himself and when we turned on the power we heard a POP!  We then decided to leave it to the professional....

CP was then able to vent the microwave/hood out the side of the house (the black vent).  (Side note: how did my husband get so handy??)  CP did take some of the siding color off (whoops) when trying to remove excess caulk on the sides of the vent but we have to replace that anyway....  The other  HUGE vent is the old and now abandoned kitchen vent which is ugly and nasty.  We will have to get a professional to come in, pull it off, and somehow patch up the hole on the side of the house.

We thought about painting the wood cabinet doors the same color as the creamy white metal doors but decided that the color might look odd because of the two different surfaces.  Then CP and I saw a picture of a baby blue wall with white shelves in a kitchen- that was our inspiration.  We decided that we would tie in the creamy white from the metal parts into the wood cabinets by painting the trim white.  As you can see, the result was awful.  What a waste of time.

Originally I was worried that gray wood cabinet doors and the stainless steel appliances would be too industrial looking, but my dad insisted that they would look good.  As you can see in the picture above (the left cabinet), they look much better than the blue.  I still don't love them, but maybe I will change my mind after the room is complete.  Also notice the lovely laminate countertops.

Here's what the house has looked like the past two days without any countertops.

Here are our new granite countertops just installed today!!

Yay for our new cooktop with five burners!

And yay for our new undermounted sink!

Plumber comes tomorrow to hook up the cooktop, hook up the sink, install the new faucet and install the new garbage disposal.  After that WE WILL HAVE A WORKING KITCHEN!!!!  I can't tell you how excited that makes me.  We won't have to eat out every.single.meal!  We can unpack all of our kitchen boxes and free up some space in the garage!

We still have some things to do in the kitchen including figuring out what we want for the backsplash/how to install a backsplash (mental note: must learn how to tile), what color to paint above the top cabinets, painting the window and the ceiling, putting down contact paper so that the paint doesn't scratch off the metal cabinets, and installing all of the cabinets pulls.  But A WORKING KITCHEN!  Big step.

Oh!  And CP and I finally decided on new plates for our house.  We decided to give our old plates away in CT because we had broken a few and they were really large.  We read somewhere that if you eat off smaller plates/plates that have a smaller surface area, you tend to eat less.  While it's hard to find smaller plates these days (especially ones we liked), we went looking for plates that had a raised rim and our goal is to only put food within the smaller circle.

We ended up finding these at Pier 1....and we mixed it up a bit by buying pieces from two different sets.  We bought the large and small plates pictured below...

Martillo Dinnerware in Creme Brulee 

But because we were not huge fans of the bowls and mugs and wanted to spice it up a bit, we bought bowls and mugs from this collection:

"Sanctuary Dinnerware" from Pier1 

Pattern inside of the bowl.

Mugs!

The sets actually go really well together and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the pattern on the sanctuary bowls and mugs (the plates didn't have the raised rim that we wanted).

Doing the happy dance this Friday afternoon!  Have a great weekend!