curtain call

The curtain's up, ready for opening night

a little good-night music

Just waiting for the star to be born

want, need, must have!

I realized a bit late in the game, that "game" being Kelly's pregnancy, that I don't have a rocking chair in my house. I... want, need, must have... a chair to rock my grandbaby when he's here to visit! I thought about adding a swivel base to one of the chairs we have now, but when I tipped that chair over to see if it could be done, I decided it couldn't, not to that chair anyway.
So... a shopping I must go!
I've been to six different "chair stores" about town in the last few days. I sat and rocked and glided (glided??). I also shopped online. With a strict budget in mind, I came up with the conclusion that Target.com had the best deal. One of the brands they carry is "Best" company chairs, a brand I had seen in two of our local shops. They have only a few of the available fabrics, but they're ready to go, versus a six week order time. They have this black and ivory check swivel glider...and it's 15% off right now. Not a fabulous savings, but if you consider it's already discounted from a custom order, I'll gladly take it!
It just happens to go very well with the port-a-crib we bought and my bedroom re-do.
This afternoon I clicked "place order". It's on it's way and will hopefully arrive before or about the same time as baby Carter.

rock-a-bye baby!

how cute is this?

A fleece Pea Coat size 3 months

double breasted with cute anchor buttons

and a matching hat.
Who says they don't make cute clothes for baby boys?!

food of the month

My February 1st post was about the National Food Holidays for that month. I couldn't wait to see what was in store for March, so I peeked, but now after looking ahead, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. Take a look for yourself:

March

National Caffeine Awareness Month
National Celery Month
National Flour Month
National Frozen Food Month
National Noodle Month
National Nutrition Month
National Peanut Month
National Sauce Month

March 1 National Peanut Butter Lover's Day
March 1 National Fruit Compote Day
March 2 National Banana Cream Pie Day
March 3 National Cold Cuts Day
March 3 National Mulled Wine Day
March 4 National Poundcake Day
March 5 National Cheese Doodle Day
March 6 National Frozen Food Day
March 6 National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day
March 7 National Crown Roast of Pork Day
March 7 National Cereal Day
March 8 National Peanut Cluster Day
March 9 National Crabmeat Day
March 10 National Blueberry Popover Day
March 11 Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day
March 12 National Baked Scallops Day
March 13 National Coconut Torte Day
March 14 National Potato Chip Day
March 15 National Peanut Lovers Day
March 15 National Pears Helene Day
March 16 National Artichoke Heart Day
March 18 National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day
March 19 National Poultry Day
March 19 National Chocolate Caramel Day
March 20 National Ravioli Day
March 21 National French Bread Day
March 23 National Chip and Dip Day
March 23 National Melba Toast Day
March 24 National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day
March 25 National Lobster Newburg Day
March 26 National Waffle Day
March 26 National Nougat Day
March 27 National Spanish Paella Day
March 28 National Black Forest Cake Day
March 29 National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day
March 30 Turkey Neck Soup Day
March 31 National Clams on the Half Shell Day

Who... makes this stuff up? C'mon now, really... National Cheese Doodle day? Really?!! Oh, and what about March 30th, ummm, no, not goin' there.

But... I will celebrate National Chocolate Caramel Day with some Turtles, yum!

Kel, for your birthday I'm getting you a bag of Cheese Doodles to celebrate!

found while googling...

I've decided I need a rocking chair at my house to rock my grandbaby. I had given our oldest daughter my antique rocker I used when they were babies when we downsized. We happen to have 2 fabulous comfortable upholstered rockers at our lake house... but nothing here. What! What am I to do to snuggle and rock with the baby?! So I started shopping online this morning and googling, and saw this ingenious design:

available for $10,500 at
Scott Morrison Montana Fine Woodworker

Not an option for my house (or budget at that price), but very cool don't you think?!
We actually have more than enough chairs at the moment, and I don't really want to buy another chair. So that got me thinking... what if I could add the glider/rocker base to one of my own chairs.
So... I googled and I found it!

Two options, one a glider base only, one a swivel gilder base. Now I just have to decide which one I want and order it. Oh boy, oh joy... another DIY project!

Is there anything you can't find by googling?!

jump in the pool...

...the baby pool that is! We've taken bets on Carter's delivery date. Dates to keep in mind:

Alex picked the last day in February (her b'day month)
Momma-to-be Kelly's birthday is March 5th (no one picked this date)
Lincoln (daddy-to-be) picked March 15, the actual due date
Uncle Greg picked St Patrick's day (maybe we'll have to change his middle name to Patrick?)
Jess picked March 18, her very own birthday!
Kelly picked March 20, the first day of spring

The other dates chosen are all random. I'm thinking Carter will choose one of the open dates, so he can win the pool himself!

If you want in, it'll cost ya $5

adding your own touch

I'm a "tweaker"... I love to craft things and add my own customizing touch. Kelly had this plain white lampshade in the baby's nursery that was calling to us saying "dress me up"! So that meant a trip to Hobby Lobby for ribbon, in the nursery colors of course, and getting out the trusty ol' glue gun.

First the brown ribbon

and then the dots.
like little underwater bubbles
But I felt the bottom edge needed something too. Ribbon doesn't bend and lay flat around that flared edge, so...

what about pom poms!
But then seeing it in the room it just wasn't right, so back to tweaking again...I peeled off the top ribbon. It just wasn't doin' it for me, not enough contrast against the white. So instead I used this dotted ribbon in brown and blue.
I added ribbon to the bottom border too but pinched it, like a pie crust, and hot glued it on the pleats, so it would lay against the curve of the shade .
There... better!


What do you think?
This one on the left
or... this one on the right




Then on to tweaking the bumpers. Kelly was this way and that about using bumpers, it's a controversy for new mother's, if you didn't know that. But then we found these plain cream minky bumpers at BR'U, on sale, that match exactly to the other bedding.
See they even say "Carter's"

They were plain, blah, just cream colored.... so I added the stripe fabric as trim to the top edge. Just enough to make it match and look all custom and coordinated.
I machine sewed the first edge on like bias tape, and then folded it over and hand sewed the entire length. Something to do while watching the Olympics!

Two more items for Carter's cute nursery!

linked to:

Are you getting tired of this yet? Just wait until he's actually here, ha!

one more nursery project completed

I bought Kelly this glider chair for her birthday last March 2009, a find from a local consignment store. The cushions were pink chenille, the chair most likely from a baby girls nursery. She wanted to use it in her guest room, which we had done in a seaside theme, so I recovered the cushions to this:It looked great in her guest room.

But now the glider is needed in Carter's nursery, so... I recovered it again.

I covered them in cozy brown minky and made a pillow to coordinate with the dust ruffle.

Everything looks great together. My next project will be to make drapes for the double window out of the same fabrics.

It's all coming together!

linked toand

Blue Cricket Design

sometimes you just need a change...

and an inexpensive way to do this is with paint. Our bedroom had been a sage green for ~ 8 years, a nice color, but when I switched to the new Ralph Lauren black & cream check comforter, I felt the room needed a little warming up. Could it be our cold, rainy, dreary winter had anything to do with my decision? So I chose a Benjamin Moore color "gentle cream", but I had it mixed into Behr paint (since the Home Depot is right nearby and Ben Moore paint is $$$).

So we went from pale gray-green walls

with a strip of border in the molding

to "gentle cream" walls with newly caulked and painted floor and crown molding. It looks and feels so fresh.
BTW... I painted the walls myself, all by myself, rolled and trimmed out. all. by. myself.
Hubby helped caulk and then we both painted the trim.

I hung the plates back above the bed, with my newly purchased platter for the center. Before the new bedding, they used to all be black and white, but I added a red one for a little color, and to bring out the red pillows.

A few more changes will be in the works for this room. I'd like to print out some black & white photography, mat them in red and frame them with black frames, for the wall opposite the bed. Perhaps I'll even try my hand at slipcovers (see that chair in the corner). But for now, the painting mess is finished and the room is put back together.
I'm currently sewing for Carter's nursery, tweaking his bumpers and then on to making curtains. No time to rest... 29 days until his due date! Wow!

linked up!