A Project for a Sunny Day

I've had an itch to redecorate my bedroom for a few months now. Last year I painted my furniture and bought some fabric and made curtains to match the bedding. Since we've moved we have beautiful shutters on our windows, thus making the curtains useless. I've since been uninspired about my bedroom. Take a look:

See what I mean? Pretty uninspiring. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I chose that color for the bedroom set. Anyway, it's been BEAUTIFUL here (it'll be 70 degrees tomorrow) and I decided that if I'm going to redecorate, it had to be today while it was warm. Who knows when the next warm spell will be. So this is what I've been doing today in the backyard: I went to Home Depot earlier in the week and chose a few paint colors I liked. I finally decided on this one, pictured above. It's called Starry Night, by Ralph Lauren. I also chose a new duvet cover. That was hard. I figured I'd find something on clearance and sew two flat sheets together to make a new Spring cover to rotate with my navy blue cover, but the pickin's were slim. But I did find this:
Does it seem like a lot of brown? Too brown for spring/summer? I figure I can add some fun, bright accent pillows and totally change the look of my room. But here's the catch: I'm a sheet snob. It's true. I only like Egyptian Cotton 400+ thread count sheets. Unfortunately something that nice in a duvet will run me at least $70, if not more. So I settled for this set that's 220 count. I bought it yesterday and last night as I was laying in bed dreaming about the new decorating, I just imagined this new duvet cover about as soft as a burlap sack next to my face.

So that's what I'm working on right now. I'm all done except for the our two night stands. I'll post pictures when I get it all put back together tomorrow.

UPDATE: Painting and children DO NOT mix well. I thought it would be fun to have Andy help with the nightstands. Oh, was I mistaken. I had Josh screaming on a blanket off to the side of us, Andy running around with the screwdriver and paint roller, as I'm frantically trying to finish the night stands before the neighbors call Child Services. Andy ended up being sent to his room for not being helpful. So much for my fun family activity.

Online Book Club

I am always looking for a good book. I love it when my fellow bloggers post recommendations of good books that they've read. I always promptly add the recommended book to my online request queue at my local library. They graciously will pull the book for me have it waiting on a little shelf with my name on it. On the book, not the shelf :)

So usually the books I read are the recommendations from others. I've even joined and Online Book Club, Goodreads, for more suggestions from my friends. It's pretty helpful because in 5 stars I know who liked which book.

At a Webb family snow mobiling trip about two years ago my sweet sister-in-law loaned me a book for an evening. I was hooked after the first 15 pages and promptly went to my own library to find it after Jen took it home with her. I just finished rereading it (again!) and feel I need to
share the greatness of this story with all my online friends.

I can't find an online jacket cover description on the book that does it justice, so please, please, please just take my word for it and read it. If it doesn't sound interesting in the least to you, just give it 15 pages or 30 minutes and I promise you'll be in for the long haul. I'd love to hear each of your comments as you finish it, so I'll put a link back to this post on the side bar.

Enjoy!

As I was looking for a picture of the jacket to post online I discovered that there is a SECOND book about Sarah Agnes Prine, Sarah's Quilt. I promptly added it to my queue and will post about it when I finish it.

Check this out.

This was in the 'Breaking News' on cnn.com. Check it out:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/02/21/harrington.virgin.mary.pretzel.kval

Disconnected

You know how when you have a cold you feel like you're walking around with your head in a bubble

Well, maybe not EXACTLY like this, but pretty close. So I woke up this morning and I felt so horrible, I was sure I was going to die. I told Kraig that he could remarry when I die, but that he had to choose someone who would love my boys. He assured me I wasn't dying and passed me some ibuprofen (since it's the ONLY medicine I can take while nursing).

So I'm feeling a bit better. It's been so long since I wasn't either pregnant or nursing that I don't even remember what it's like to take anything other than ibuprofen.

I put the boys down for their naps, intent on resting myself for those blessed 2 hours too. I settled myself on my bed with a book, a bowl of pretzles and mustard (mustard's the only thing I can taste) and pick up my phone to call my mom for a little chat, and the phone's dead. I check all the lines and not one is off the hook. My internet is working just fine and so after a lengthy call to Qwest on my cell phone, we decide that a tech needs to come out to fix the problem. As close as I can tell, the problem is on their side of the line. If that's the case, the visit from the tech is free. If I'm mistaken and the problem is on my side of the line, it's $85 just to have the tech come out and tell me that, not including the charges to fix the problem. Of course I didn't opt to pay a monthly fee for insurance against instances like this.

So my phone's disconnected. I'm a bubble head and I can't talk on the phone. Phooey.

PS--the spell check function on blogger hasn't worked on my computer for over a week (hense all the speling miztaks). Is anyone else having that problem?

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday. My dad is one of the most hardworking people I know. He's always got a project he's working on and because he works so hard, he's refined his napping skills to rival Joshua's. He's also very smart. We tease him that he's the 'Great Poo-Ba' because he knows the answer to every question. Dad and Andrew at my Dad's most favorite place in the world--Our Family's Homestead, Rencher Meadow, Idaho

Andy loves his Grandpa and can't wait to tell him 'Hello!' when we go to Grandpa's house.

Dad with a few-hour-old Joshua. There's a special bond between Joshy and his Grandpa. We can never go home until Grandpa gets one more smile out of my boy.

Happy Birthday, Dad! We love you!

My Happiness List, part 2

With an abundance of sickness in our home for the last while, I'm feeling the strong need to list a few things the make me happy:

• When Andrew is obedient without having to be asked 100 times
• When Joshua sleeps through the night
• Finishing a good book
• Having something planned for dinner
• Going to the grocery store
• A long hot, uninterrupted shower
• High speed internet
• A 60 degree day
• Kraig’s day off
• Watching a good movie
• Getting a nap
• Cuddling by the fire
• Smoothies
• Blogging
• Tissues that have lotion
• Waking up early to study
• A clean house
• Climbing into clean sheets
• Having something fun to look forward to
• Bedtime

Good Morning, Baltimore!

The occasions are few and far between that I see a movie that I want to own. But I found one:

Singing. Dancing. Laughing. John Travolta in drag singing a love song with Christopher Walken. Cutie patootie teen sensation Zac Efron. Good clean fun!

Big Points Scored

I married a very creative man. He's handsome and poetic and just an all around wonderful husband. Except in gift giving. I love to be surprised with things I want without having to spell it out in a list. Kraig loves knowing exactly what I want so he can't mess up. There have even been holidays when I received from my well-intentioned-husband homemade gift certificates. Cute, but who honestly cashes in on those? I think I still have one from my birthday for a new pair of running shoes.


So last week when Kraig and I were discussing Valentine's Day and our spending budget for each other I told him that I DID NOT want a gift certificate. He needed to put a little fore-thought into my gift. I didn't care if he didn't spend a dime on me, but just that he'd thought up the gift. Ooo! He really delivered!


First, he made me breakfast. This in and of itself isn't that unusual, but he did my favorite breakfast--Breakfast Burritos. After I got home from Joshua's doctor's appointment he shared with me a poem that he'd written that made both of us cry.


He had to work that afternoon/evening, and when he got home he had red roses for me. He also carried a confused expression. Apparently he had ordered flowers to be delivered to me which never came. Flowers! Delivered! He's never done that before. In fact, he's told me many times he doesn't like to get me flowers because I just kill them. I called to do some investigating to find out why I never received them and was able to get our money back. It doesn't really matter to me that I didn't get them-- I'm sure they would have been beautiful and I would have ended up killing them, but WOW he did a great job surprising me with something I wanted and got big points for even trying.

No, it's not Valentine's Lingerie

I made heart pillows for the boys for Valentine's Day. Good thing I didn't make them out of pink like I had originally planned. Kraig thought the hearts were girly enough as is for his boys.

We had our Valentine's dinner last night because Kraig has to work tonight. I made heart shaped ham and cheese calzones--thank you Hot Pockets for the inspiration. They were yummy!

Joshy's RSV

Josh is doing well, all things considered. We have a return appointment tomorrow at the doctor's and I'm optimistic that things are going well and no hospital visit will be necessary. Here's a brief rundown of the CDC's definition of RSV:

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia among infants and children under 1 year of age. Illness begins most frequently with fever, runny nose, cough, and sometimes wheezing. During their first RSV infection, between 25% and 40% of infants and young children have signs or symptoms of bronchiolitis or pneumonia, and 0.5% to 2% require hospitalization. Most children recover from illness in 8 to 15 days. The majority of children hospitalized for RSV infection are under 6 months of age. RSV also causes repeated infections throughout life, usually associated with moderate-to-severe cold-like symptoms; however, severe lower respiratory tract disease may occur at any age, especially among the elderly or among those with compromised cardiac, pulmonary, or immune systems.

RSV is a negative-sense, enveloped RNA virus. The virion is variable in shape and size (average diameter of between 120 and 300 nm), is unstable in the environment (surviving only a few hours on environmental surfaces), and is readily inactivated with soap and water and disinfectants.

RSV is spread from respiratory secretions through close contact with infected persons or contact with contaminated surfaces or objects. Infection can occur when infectious material contacts mucous membranes of the eyes, mouth, or nose, and possibly through the inhalation of droplets generated by a sneeze or cough. In temperate climates, RSV infections usually occur during annual community outbreaks, often lasting 4 to 6 months, during the late fall, winter, or early spring months. The timing and severity of outbreaks in a community vary from year to year. RSV spreads efficiently among children during the annual outbreaks, and most children will have serologic evidence of RSV infection by 2 years of age.

For children with mild disease, no specific treatment is necessary other than the treatment of symptoms (e.g., acetaminophen to reduce fever). Children with severe disease may require oxygen therapy and sometimes mechanical ventilation.

Development of an RSV vaccine is a high research priority, but none is yet available. Frequent handwashing and not sharing items such as cups, glasses, and utensils with persons who have RSV illness should decrease the spread of virus to others. Excluding children with colds or other respiratory illnesses (without fever) who are well enough to attend child care or school settings will probably not decrease the transmission of RSV, since it is often spread in the early stages of illness. In a hospital setting, RSV transmission can and should be prevented by strict attention to contact precautions, such as handwashing and wearing gowns and gloves

Things Fall Apart

I think that sometimes I get too comfortable. Everything is pretty smooth sailing and I get relaxed, get in the groove, and get a good night's sleep. That's when The Higher Power decides it's time to spice things up a bit--like this morning when I took Josh to the doctor for a little cough only to discover that he is at the beginning of RSV. Since we caught it early (his O2 saturation was still 97% this morning, which was wonderful), the prognosis is good. But it's going to get worse before it gets better.

My little family

Look how my cute family has changed in 10 months. Both of these photos were taken at the Bountiful temple at a family wedding.

Kathy's Wedding

Phew. We're home. Why does it always seem that the time leading up to a vacation drags on and then the days during the vacation fly?

Such was our trip to Utah for the wedding. We didnt' get our car back in time from the transmission shop, so we drove Kraig's van. The roads were horrible all day Monday, and after a late start Monday morning (we spent an hour getting our tire fixed) we arrived in Centerville around 5pm. we'd originally planned on being there around 2 because Kraig was fixing dinner for the whole family and needed to prep.

But dinner turned out fantastic! We had lots of help and everything got pulled together. It was a hit! Here was Kraig's menu:

Appetizer: Fruit plate and Crab Cheese Crepes

Salad: Spinach (the camera lens was foggy from being in the cold car)

Dinner: Artichoke and Sundried tomato stuffed Chicken with mashed potatoes and asparagas

Dessert: Fried dessert cups with vanilla icecream and hot fudge

Tuesday we played in the snow. They've had a lot of snow in Utah and it made for fun sledding in the front yard with cousins.

Kathy went through the temple Tuesday night, which was very nice, and then Kraig rushed to the airport to come back to Denver for work and school. I stayed there with the kids.

Wednesday was pretty quiet. It had snowed so I had to cancel my trip up to Heber to visit some friends, but ended up going to see my sister Cory that evening. It was really nice to visit.

Thursday all the family went swimming at the Bountiful Rec Center to celebrate birthdays. It was lots of fun. Kraig flew in late that night just in time for...

The Wedding! Kathy and Chaz got married at 9am Friday morning in the Bountiful temple. It was a beautiful ceremony. The weather was a balmy 40 degrees and sunny. It was a beautiful day. Congratulations, Kathy and Chaz!

I had our outfits planned out so carefully for the reception and then didn't take any photos with my camera, only the photographer's. Hopefully I'll get them soon and post them. But I thought this one turned out well too.

The night of the reception was eventful too. Andrew threw up around 3am--we were thinking he'd eaten too much candy at the reception. But when he threw up the next morning during breakfast (eww, yuck) I wasn't so sure it was just a sour stomach. We HAD to come home yesterday, though, because Kraig worked at 6am this morning. So after another late start, we were on our way. The roads were dry, thankfully. Andy didn't barf at all, but had a fever for most of the trip. He was pretty uncomfortable and was sure to let us know. But I'd only prayed for no barfing, so I'm glad that prayer was answered. The normally 8 hour trip took 11+ with all the stops we had to make, but we made it home safely.

Car Trouble

So we have to get a new transmission on our 'new' van. I discovered on Wednesday that my car had lost it's ability to reverse. That's bad. As far as car repairs go, this one's a doosey. Apparently it's not that uncommon in Chrysler minivans for the transmission to poop out with such low mileage (we're still under 40K). I also think it's a little because the car sat so often with the previous owner, hence the low miles. So that stinks. It's just more money--trading one thing for another thing.
But the part that really stinks is that we're supposed to leave Sunday to go to Brenny's. They invited is to come and watch the Super Bowl, stay the night and then leave from their house early the next morning to go to Utah for Kraig's sister's wedding. Who knows where this leaves us. Our second car is also a Dodge Caravan (am I noticing a trend here) that is older and we're a little concerned about it's ability to make it over the mountains. In fact, as I type this Kraig is at the shop getting a few things done on the car. Once again, it's just more money.