fighting the world

i've decided that i am going to stop fighting the world in a few ways (not all) but i have come to realize that i might be a little bit happier if i make some changes and just go with the world changes.
1.) baby monitors - i didn't register or really want the video monitor when gavin was born. i had in my mind that if he is crying its a no brainier you go see what is wrong or what he needs. if i had the video monitor i'd look at the picture and still get up and see what was going on. i wouldn't change the early stages of not having a video monitor but now that gavin is almost 4- and the last 2 weeks he does not want to stay in his room to sleep - i kind of wish i had one. i've been waking up every hour wondering when he might come walking into our room. only for me to walk him back and then sit on the floor until he falls back to sleep. so far i've only had to get out of bed once per night and sit in the dark for 25min.

2.) baby seats/buckets- i said we don't need to have two buckets/one for each car. i thought that was just the craziest idea that others would have one in each car. we would just switch cars and split the week up and monday, wednesday, and friday the same person would just drop off and pick up and then the other on tuesday and thursday. all to save $60 and a little bit of plastic!!

3.) maternity clothes- i have been trying to use what i have in my stash- happy to know there are things that don't fit me this time (bc i'm not wearing an XL- amen!). BUT i've been so uncomfortable and now that i am 5 weeks out i decided instead of being uncomfortable and making due- i splurged on maternity underwear... who knew they would be the answer to feeling less uncomfortable. i tried not to buy anything new and if i did it had to be on sale. today i bought myself a whole outfit!!! i can't wait to wear it! all this time i was telling myself just wear what i have and afterwards you will be happy to spend the money on new "real" clothes. perhaps when i see all these pregnant co-works they are happy and bubbly bc they have just gone with the flow of buying maternity clothes like your buying "real" clothes. they never gave it a thought that why invest in so many when you only use them for 9 months (ugh ... 9 months is forever)!

we went out last weekend and bought the second base for the infant car seat. we also bought gavin his new booster car seat and got 2!!! (i had $35 in coupons to use so this really helped me bit the bullet). i plan to go buy the video monitor this weekend (its on sale and i have $15 in coupons). i'll keep you posted on other things that i've been fighting the world on and finally gave in.

i am pretty sure i'm the minority on all the above but if i'm not i'd love to hear from you and if you have the same thoughts?

olive returned for christmas...

olive returned for chirstimas... we waited to let gavin find him on christmas morning.he was pretty excited to come downstairs and find him on top of all his presents from santa!

treasures found....

i went to the don scott antique fair last weekend with just a few things in mind to find (hoping for a lucky day = antique fair) and i hit the jack pot!!! take a look at what i found:

elk antlers $100



rustic shelf $20




frame $22

 i am already looking forward to returning to the next sale- january 21st...

follow up to sewing 101....

i had such a great time at my refresher sewing class.... here is what i made that night.

looking forward to taking additional classes and also taking what I learned and making some gifts. next classes on my list to take are the beginner tote bag and pillow case. if your looking for a class to learn or refresh some of your sewing skills - i recommend sew to speak in clintonville.

sewing 101....

i'm embarrassed to say that i am taking a sewing 101 class tonight and going to make the items below...

the reason i say i am embarrassed is because i am a fashion merchandising major and took a ton of sewing classes in college. i have been out of college for 12 years and have not worked in the retail world for 9 years- therefore i am not beating myself up too bad but, should know more than i do about sewing.

taking a sewing (refresher) class has been on my list of "things to do" for a long time. i'm excited that i actually took the step and signed up for the class. looking forward to going and getting my sewing skills back in order... then i can start crossing some more things off my "things to do" list.

hoping for a lucky day = antique fair

this weekend is the don scott antique fair at the Ohio State fair grounds....i am looking for the following below and hope i have luck in finding them all! will i see you there?

missing ...olive the other reindeer

last weekend we were christmas decorating and gavin decided to help- i gave him a tree of his own in the play area of the basement to decorate with all of our ornaments that don't match my themed tree upstairs. he found my little stuffed animal "olive the other reindeer" and just though he was the best- "a dog with antlers... what?"

after he finished decorating his tree (he loved doing this by himself) it was nap time and he wanted to bring olive to sleep with. after nap we haven't talked much more about olive ...until yesterday. he told me he is missing and we need to post signs around the house so that others know he is missing too. the first sign gavin told me what to write, "we miss you olive, please come home for christmas!" then we made "missing olive (with a picture of olive) reward if found $28 (he told me how much he would pay if his is found). we made about 50 signs and he taped them all over the house. the one below i found in the bathroom...

last night we looked high and low for olive but we can't find him anywhere. we thought if we could find him and then have his elf (elf on the shelf) appear with him as if he found him he would just be so thrilled. we are still looking but perhaps olive is really missing???


...if you haven't heard of olive- its a cute book that came out some time ago... "Olive is merrily preparing for Christmas when suddenly she realizes 'Olive... the other Reindeer... I thought I was a dog. Hmmm, I must be a Reindeer!' So she quickly hops aboard the polar express and heads to the North Pole. And while Santa and the other reindeer are a bit surprised that a dog wants to join the their team, in the end Olive and her unusual reindeer skills are just what Santa and his veteran reindeer team need. Colorful graphic illustrations accompany this zany dog story from the well-known author and artist team, Vivian and J.otto Seibold. Adorable Olive and her hilarious adventures are sure to make anyone's Christmas merry."