Emptying my wallet

goodbye Vegas weekend..

Andrea visited home last weekend and we've already got to retell a lot of the stories from when we were there which was fun, as it was a very fun 4 days.. and got to look around her Mom's basement of old stuff and jam for the mysterious David Copperfield ('s autograph Andrea has).

I have an aversion to saying goodbye to anything, or getting to the end of some stories.  This is never good.  If I've learned anything it's that every story deserves it's end, only in writing it yourself can you give it the integrity that belongs to everything that happened before it.  For example the book I bought in the Newark airport (This Is Your Captain Speaking) I purposely did not finish the last chapter; there it sits on my nightstand since I got home last month as if the vacation wouldn't be officially over unless I read the last word.  Even though it's not particularly a great story it really doesn't deserve to go unfinished.  As a note, only I would buy a book to read on a flight that starts off with a plane crashing into the Hudson River.  I mean, really????

I don't think it's particularly weird to never want something to end but it's certainly never made my life any easier.  Every once in a while I have to empty my wallet whether I like it or not, and I find there's so much more room for other things that way.

Fun Fact: a Las Vegas RTC transit bus is called "The Deuce" 

Frozen battle: Zoku vs X-Press Pop Maker

If you aren't familiar with the Zoku pop maker it's a super fast way to make any kind of popsicle you want.  My first thoughts with the Zoku were as follows:

1. what the hell?
2. it's too pretty
3. more than 2 minutes is still too long to wait.. it's for kids, right?
4. what kind of time do you think I have?
5. this is so unnecessary that maybe I want one

NOT FOR THAT PRICE, ZOKU.. nomatter how many peppy-lady instructional videos you make! Then I run into it's competitor the X-press Pop Maker.  Note my unedited, non-dreamy photos.

                           

I buy it on sale for $12.  My kids go batshit crazy for anything I make with these.. I just have to open the freezer and they go OH MY GOD IT'S THE RIGHT NOW POPSICLES! and I haven't even started with the cute cut out fruits because please, their waiting the 10 mins is hard enough.  

These are Raspberry Yogurt popsicles.  Raspberries were frozen from the garden, loved them!

All you have to do with both is freeze the base for 24 hours beforehand and then make sure you do not put any liquid in it that has no sugar (including natural sugar) plain water, or is carbonated.  It just won't work, and that seems to be the premise of the whole idea.  Here's the side by side.

XPRESS

• price $12 (original $29.99)
• makes 4 popsicles at a time
• takes 7-10mins 
• comes with 8 sticks, 4 drip guards
• ice pop removal tool

ZOKU

• price $73.44
• makes 3 (2oz) popsicles at a time
• takes 7-10 mins
• comes with 6 sticks, 6 drip guards
• ice pop remover tool 

Stencil Project: stairs to playroom

I am pretty pleased with myself that I accomplished one of the ideas I had.. in a test area of the house.  This was valuable for three reasons

1. It was a smaller area so I could finish quicker and estimate how much time my real project would take me
2. If I screwed it up it would still be an improvement to beige nothing on your way to the playroom in the basement, where we hang coats anyway
3. Lists make me feel like I've really made my point

The inspiration for my whole project was a fun wallpaper design by Orla Kiely called Multi Stem Wallpaper.  I decided to do my own thing with it and the paint I had wanted for the basement and I made the stencil myself from paper I bought at Michaels.  I might end up finishing this with a cream coloured stem or grey stem, I haven't decided.

Before: I used my kids to dress up my boring walls!  Hi, ti-dye Gabriel.

Pics: another section I did around the corner beside the door and view from the top of the stairs.  The large rectangular space is where the hat rack/coat hanger goes but that's hubbs job since it weighs 30 pounds and I am too proud of my work to wait for him to get around to it ;)

Total time for a person who doesn't do this stuff at all, and I mean at all: 2 hours

Estimated time it would take me to do the entire wall in Kieran's room as I had wanted, with multi-colours:  HOLY CRAP I DONT KNOW SEVEN HOURS???  Reconsidering my approach maybe.

The Simpsons just isn't good anymore...

I will admit I secretly think those picture with words things that I run into sometimes are hilariously teen-mo, however, I had no idea anyone shared my thoughts until I found this.  Enjoy!

Update on my stencil painting project:  

Trial run is going well!  So excited I started.  It's just a test area of the house at the moment.. aka the landing towards the playroom but so far everyone but Sean THINKS IT'S THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO PAINTING EVER.  SO much so that Gabriel took my brush and made some super nice unapproved paintings on the walls around the house.  Yay?

Summer 2012: do everything

This year has been crazy for me as far as worklife.. like really crazy.. so this summer has been spent with my time off spoiling the boys as much as possible with summer adventures.  Last weekend we were at Canada's Wonderland until it literally closed at 10pm.  I wish I had a video of me taking Ethan on his first roller-coaster ride The Fly.  It looks harmless enough but it does scare you, so, 3 seconds into it he was screaming "MY EYEBALLS ARE GOING TO FALL OUT, MY EYEBALLS ARE GOING TO FALL OUT" ... What?? haha.

Careful or they'll eat your Dad!

So here's my conclusion about summer; do everything.  The unspoken fun-less parent responsibility with children is that to have the fun sometimes you feel like you need to plan and organize the day as if it were a military attack.. making sure everyone is always at their optimal, least cranky, fun-having state of mind.  I'm not here to say that isn't true because it certainly is much of the time but it's SO much fun to throw that out the window some days.  When you can, do.  Never pass up an opportunity that isn't in your plan.  My natural state of being has always been that I like to consume everything.  My soul is happy to do everything.  Play with everything.  See everything.  Get every last drop out of the sunshine in a day.  Then do it again tomorrow.   It's indescribable to get those special moments with your child where they turn to you with a blissful smile on their face and whisper "this is beautiful".

Minted

I'm working (i.e. in my mind, where most of the work happens) on crossing off the next item of my list which requires me to complete a room in my house. I put this on my list because mainly decorating is something perpetually a work in progress.. the work being in my imagination and the progress being painful to watch.  Example: my 'decorate Easter' project.  I get caught up in the little things too often.. and, if there were ever a metaphor for my life that would be a pretty great one.

                                              
So goes my goal of completing something to my satisfaction.  You may laugh now, if you like!  I did.

That brings me to my choice of room.  Kieran's room.  I don't have a picture of Kieran's room when I started but it's pretty plain so not hard to imagine.  Instead, let's meet my subject.  He is 18months old in TWO days.  My sunshine, on this, a beautiful summer Friday.

says: HA-low!

He likes birds so I am going with a bird theme with creams, browns, blues and orange that matches his crib bedding.

I am going to attempt to PAINT a section of his room ....a stencil!!.. soon so I'll update when I do that.  Or fail at that, whatever may come.  For now I'll share some amazing stuff on the paper design site called Minted.  I'm obsessed with wall art, and now, all things Minted.  They design more than nursery art if you want to browse around.  Be prepared to love everything.

Photo sources: Minted.