Luke's Nursery... work in progress STILL

So it is "Show us where you live Friday: Children's Rooms and Nurseries" Here is our nursery-in-progress...
This is the view as you are approaching Luke's nursery. We have many curious animals and I had to come up with a creative way to keep them out without keeping the door shut at all times.... SCREEN DOOR! Woo hoo! Now they can all gather and watch!

This is just inside the door. I am still trying to decide if I actually like the rug. It ended up being too big for the room, so I turned it this way and stuck it under the crib.

I was browsing the mall and found these metal safari animals at Kirkland's. I used the leftover paint from the room to outline each of the frames.

This is the inside of the secretary that we are using for the baby stuff. He has lots of tiny shoes and socks so far. Each of the drawers holds important items. He has quite a collection of pacis and bibs already!

This is the secretary closed up. It was a wedding present from my Nanny. It has always been displayed prominently in all of our homes. It weighs a ton (literally)! We have never actually "used" it for anything other than storage. We thought it would be very special to use it for our first baby. As soon as Luke is able to bring harm to it, it will move to my room as a home for my laptop! We are waiting to purchase a glider to go somewhere on this wall. I painted the little wall hook thing and my friend Lindsey found this super-cute onesie on Etsy and I immediately purchased it.

I posted some pictures at the beginning of my blog of Luke's room so far. We have since decided to do some updating and I am glad to share them with you courtesy of Kelly's Korner. I still have to make the valence for his window and add the rickrack and trim to his crib skirt. I haven't found the right fabric just yet for the rest of the window treatments! Check back again when I post the finished nursery!

What are the odds!?!

Went out to lunch with Josh today! When I was done with lunch, I headed over to.... surprise, Hobby Lobby to pick up some ribbon for the presents I am making. When I got home I decided to clean out my craft room because all of the things that had been taken out of the misplaced boxes that were stored in what is now Luke's room were now piled in my craft room (whew what a long sentence)! I have been itching to get back to my room since I had not been able to hang out down there since becoming pregnant. Well, I cleaned out my room and then decided as a reward that I would go to TJmaxx and get the Waverly bin I saw yesterday! With my purchase in hand, I headed out to my car and for the SECOND time in my ENTIRE life..... was pooped on by a passing bird!

Cherish

I am taking it easier than usual today. It was raining some this morning so I took time to snap a few pictures with my new camera. I am hoping to take a photography class next month! The first pictures are the pots of petunias that are currently sitting patiently on my back porch. They want to be re potted into my nice pots, but I just haven't done it yet. The next picture is of a figurine that I have wanted to have for a long while. My doctor has it in her office too. It is from the Willow Tree and it is named "cherish." I put it next to the picture I have framed of Luke. I am truly blessed to have him and cannot wait for him to arrive in August! I go in his nursery every day and just picture him in his crib. Of course, I go in his nursery a million times a day because I am working on all sorts of stuff in there! You will see the progress in a few days!

(umm, I have noticed that in a lot of my posts, blogger decides to rearrange my pictures. I write about them in one order and they pop up in another! argh!)

Memories and Memorial Day

Josh and his sister, Karen (mother of "the boys")
Noah-bug

My almost 7-year-old-Caleb

My precious nephews (aka "the boys") came to visit us today on their way to DisneyWorld for an 8 day trip!! Since the older one (Caleb) will have a birthday while he is in Florida, we decided to have a birthday party bash here! We had a Star Wars cake, complete with working light sabers! We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and had all the trimmings. Mom and dad came down from Paducah to join in on the party. Caleb wanted to have hair dye for his birthday present and so he has been reapplying temporary hair dye since school let out! Baby Noah is on his way to being such a big boy. He is talking up a storm and wanted to watch Dora! He will not be two until August. They brought us lots of good hand-me-downs and I will be excited to look through them tomorrow. Tonight, I am just resting on the couch while Josh plays Resident Evil and my laundry (which I was behind on due to the previous malfunctions) gets "squeaky clean."

some favorite things...?

So, I HEART TCBY! I could eat it after every meal, including breakfast. I also love my new washing machine. It is sleek, tells me how long it will take for my clothes to be squeaky clean, has 4.5 cu ft of space, and it is stainless steel inside!! oooh, aah! I had to buy a new washer after mine decided to die on Friday night. He had been sick for a while. He started acting funky while we were in Baton Rouge. When we moved to Clarksville, he started making "the noise." Friday night he threw up all over the laundry room floor. It was time to cut the cord! We were not really planning on buying the washer immediately, but a nauseous machine is not a good machine to have. We went to Lowe's, Sears, Home Depot, and back to Lowe's. They are having a sale and in addition to the 10% off this weekend, you could get an extra 10% off for buying a high efficiency machine. SOLD! They also were offering a rebate for free delivery. They hauled the old machine off at no charge. I would have gladly paid for the delivery because it saved me from having to get Josh to take the door off the laundry room, remove the dryer, remove the old washer, install the new one and then have to put everything back! The guys from Lowe's were awesome! They were here promptly at 1:30pm and had everything up and running in no time! Overall, I am very happy! The last picture is a happy Bailey, because her mama is happy!

Show us where you live: Dining Room

So Kelly's Korner is having the Dining Room as the featured room this week! Here is mine. I even set the table since I knew you would be stopping by! (Please forgive me, the pictures are out of order! argh)This is on of my favorite pieces of furniture. It was Josh's paternal Grandmother's. Grandmama Dolly's pictures are sitting on top of the buffet. It is well over a hundred years old! She had stripped the finish off at some point and was going to refinish it, but the wood ended up with this wonderful patina anyway. I love to run my hand over the top of it... it is so smooth. I can just picture her every time I get to use my buffet for family gatherings.

This is what it looks like if you stand in the second archway opening and look into the dining room. My table is another favorite. It was the first piece of furniture that Josh and I purchased together for our first home. I love the chunky legs of the dining table. We only have 5 chairs because one of them did not survive living in Baton Rouge. I have ordered a bench and I am patiently waiting for it to arrive.

We have the buffet from Josh's paternal grandmother and we have this chandelier from Josh's maternal grandmother. Mamaw had this chandelier hanging in her home for many years. Josh's granddaddy purchased it for her on layaway (how sweet). When Mamaw moved into the nursing home and was talking about putting her house up for sale, I finally got up he nerve to ask if we could have the chandelier. Obviously she said yes and I love looking at this and feel so honored to have it in my home. Every holiday the chandelier gets dressed up. Stay tuned... my favorite look is the Halloween one!

This is the view from the first archway. It looks kinda dark, I tried to lighten up the pictures.

This is the view from the staircase. That cutout from the first picture overlooks the stairs coming into the main floor of the house. So, if you are coming through the front door, up into the living room and your turn your head to the left, you will get a sneak peek of the table and goodies that I have waiting for you! Stop by anytime!

The rest of my sofa?

Okay loyal Blog Fans... What have I been up to that prevented me from posting for 2 days? Window treatments (or rather mistreatments) have been occupying my time! I finished this one today. It is the EXACT same fabric as my favorite sofa! I bought my sofa in Baton Rouge and I found this fabric in Clarksville!!! Wow! I also bought some fabric to finish up the window treatments for Luke's room and to redo the windows in the LR and DR. If I have enough left over, I am going to redo the seats to this bistro set as well. Hancocks is having a pretty giant sale. All decorator fabrics are 40% off and they have these remnant bolts that are marked down to 5.99 and 4.99 a yard!
Today I went to the doctor. I have gained another 3 pounds! That puts the running total for the pregnancy at 4 pounds! My doctor was happy that I have started gaining now. I am at 25 weeks for those of you wondering. I have to go back in 3 weeks to take a glucose tolerance test... sounds yucky.

Painting and grilling

Yikes, no post since Friday! It seems that the trend here is to post every two days! Sorry loyal followers... Yesterday I taped off the chair rail portion of Luke's room. Josh painted. Today I taped off the two horizontal stripes that are at the top of the room and Josh is currently painting them! I will post some pictures soon. I finally found a rug online and it should be delivered this week (I hope). Okay Lindsey, I told you a story b/c I still have not posted pics of my guest room. I will this week. I am glad that Kelly posted the schedule for the remaining rooms so I can actually be on top of things! Alrighty, well I am going to see if I can grill some hot dogs in the nice cold weather that we are having tonight. When I planned on grilling, I also planned on the high being higher than 66. Who knows what it is like now since the sun is going down! Wish me luck!

Banana Pudding Pie is to blame

Okay, I know I am supposed to be posting my guest bedroom for Kelly's Korner tonight, but I just cannot. A banana pudding pie has officially kicked my booty. I did not go to the graduation tonight at the urging of Mom and my SIL. They were supposed to have storms in addition to the other issues I was having with the trip and they asked if it would hurt my feelings to stay home. I thought that by NOT going, I would be hurting their feelings... so I stayed home.

The pie, the pie.... No, I did not eat the WHOLE pie. I am only eating a small piece now. It was the MAKING of the pie that did me in! This is a complicated thing to concoct. It took all sorts of bowls and all of my measuring spoons and a real vanilla bean pod! (Josh said that "it took a whole dishwasher full of dishes to make it). Thank goodness I knew what to do with some of the weird parts of the recipe courtesy of the white chocolate bread pudding I make! Anyway, Josh LOVES banana pudding and I thought this would be such a nice surprise to end his week. I got the recipe out of the May 2009 Country Living magazine. It is really, really good. It tastes like breyers vanilla bean ice cream! Here is the LINK

Fabulous Finials

Yesterday I went to an antique store here in Clarksville and I found these fabulous finials. They are now proudly displayed in my bedroom! I am using them as curtain tie backs! Every time you look at them, it seems that you find a different color scheme. No matter what angle, they STILL match my quilt!!

Today I found my little cat, Thumbelina a new cover for her bed. I found a pillow sham made of the same fabrics in my quilt, just in a different layout! It is super cute. I will post pics of this when Kelly spotlights Master Bedrooms, I guess.

Tonight I find myself in a dilemma. One of my SILs is having a a ceremony for her associates degree commencement in Paducah on Friday. It is 1.5 hours away. I would have to leave around rush hour to get there for the ceremony at 7 pm. Josh is unable to go with me because of his work schedule. I am wondering how long the ceremony will last and what time I will be getting back on the road to drive 1.5 hours BACK home. I hate to NOT go, but I am wondering if it is a smart option... I would love comments, thoughts, etc. I have a couple of days to decide...

Thanks!

A productive day...

A productive Monday?! Yes, I know... sounds impossible! I managed to get the last of the dishes done, wash all of the towels, find a rug that I can live with for the living room, and make a nice dinner! Tomorrow I am hoping to actually make the valence for my bathroom after I run up to the fabric store. I will obviously keep you posted. It is way too late tonight for a picture of the new rug, or for me to be blogging. I did get to start catching up with an old friend online tonight. I am so thankful that we are back in touch! You should check out her blog "The Pilstons"... She now has two followers!

Mother's Day Tea

This is my FIRST mother's day present from baby Luke!!! He has such good taste!

Dad looking at pictures that I stuck in Mom's card.

Mom and Dad

Josh and Mom

Josh's grandmother's buffet that we have inherited. (that is her picture on the left) I set up the tea on here. Josh bought the flowers this afternoon.

Today was the Mother's Day Tea. Only 2 of us drank "the tea" and 2 of us had iced tea. I am glad I made it as a backup! I made egg salad sandwiches, dark chocolate brownies,and blueberry cheesecake muffins. I did not make the pepperidge farm cookies or the double chocolate cookies. I had two types of tea: Earl Grey (which Dad tried) and Chai (which is my fav). All in all, it was a nice afternoon. I am tired now and working on washing up the dishes... maybe I will have another cup of tea while I work!

Living room pictures!

So I have a split foyer, and some weird openings.... this is pretty much the only arrangement that works for the space. I LOVE my sofa, it looks lumpy b/c it is filled with DOWN! It is the best place in the house for a nice nap. I spent about 4 months recently living on the sofa b/c I was so very sick with my pregnancy.

This is what you see across from the sofa. I love curling up in my lounge. That bin beside it is the "doggy toy box" and the wicker object in the floor is Dante's house.

Here is a better picture of Dante's house (complete with Dante). He loves his house and takes every opportunity to go inside and curl up in his super-comfy bed. His house is great, the flap on the side lifts up to reveal "attic storage." We keep doggie treats and clothes in the attic of his house.
p.s. Dante's house was purchased from GrandinRoad

Here is a better shot of my NEW bookcase! Since my walls are so weird, I didn't think that a picture would look right. I hung the clock instead. This view shows my little eat in kitchen area. Notice that the curtains are wrapped on the rod. Fred, our kitten is fascinated with "hiding" in them and then running at lightning speed. In order to save my curtains, they have been up like this for several months. Fred will soon be declawed (the only one of my cats to have to go through this). He has destroyed several areas of carpet already! Speaking of carpet, I am planning on getting a rug for my living room. I just have NEVER found one that Josh and I can both live with.

This is the view when you come up the stairs and look to the right. One of the reasons I bought this house is because it had these arched doorways. The little statue is of a Pakistani soldier in the British Army prior to 1945. Above it hangs a picture of my great-grandfather who actually was a Pakistani soldier in the British Army! There are actually two arch openings on the left hand side that go into my dining room. The door at the end goes into my bedroom. There is an open doorway on the right that goes into the kitchen. That rack you see hanging on the wall is a great little shelf with hooks. I hang my purse and my keys there when I come home! I haven't finished up with the bookcase, I just got it today, remember?

Hi all! It has been a busy day. I keep having those lately! We went to Opry Mills today. I wanted to go to my favorite store Black Lion. Josh wanted to go to Bass Pro Shop and the Gibson store. Our original plan was to take in a movie too, but we ended up just shopping and then eating lunch. After Opry Mills, we came back to Clarksville and went over to Office Depot to pick up my new bookcase! We came home, Josh assembled the bookcase while I made brownies for Dana and we watched the first episodes of Star Trek. When brownies were cool enough (but still warm) I cut them up, and took them to Dana. She gave me a chimnea today because she was cleaning out her garage and didn't want it anymore. I have been so busy working on the house, I haven't gone outside to see it! When I came home, I vacuumed the living room (so I could take the pictures! ha) and took pictures. I hope you enjoy!

Cat scratch fever?

Uggh... today I got up EARLY and took Fred to the vet for his "operation." Apparently somebody tipped him off because I now have two huge scratches on the side of my "life pod" (stomach) from trying to get my normally laid-back kitten into the car! Since I was up early, I treated myself to breakfast at McDonalds. I then went to Target, Fabric Warehouse, Hancock Fabrics (scored a $50 lamp for $15!!), and of course...Hobby Lobby! I am obsessed. After my stops, I came home to check the mail, let the dogs out and feed them, and to rest for a bit. I did not rest, instead I started re-decorating. My lunch plans were ruined because we had a very long-lasting tornado warning. I ended up having to eat leftover pizza. I guess it is better than what Josh had to do during the storm. He had to stand outside the vault at the bank on base!! He was text messaging me back and forth the whole time. A lot of complaining going on from his end as I replied in weather updates. Finally I was free to move about town and went to buy my groceries. Friday afternoons are a terrible time to have to buy groceries. I was supposed to pick up Fred after 4:15pm and at 4:31pm, I was STILL in line at Kroger. I had no phone reception and had to wait until I got to my car and unloaded all of my groceries to let the clinic know that I was running late. Fortunately the clinic closed at 5:30pm so I made it in time to pick up the little bug. Josh was home when I got home and carried Fred and all of the groceries in.
I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner tonight and Chess Pie squares for dessert. I have never made EITHER of these! The Shepherd's Pie turned out really good and I think the taste of the Chess Pie is awesome, but it needs to get more firm. I hope that it will be settled by morning because I want to take some to my friend, Dana, down the street.
My intention was to post pictures of my living room for Kelly's Korner. Again, I am behind due to all the surgery/tornado/dinner/decorating dramas of today. I do plan on posting some pictures soon for all of my friendies that haven't visited.
I guess I will go get ready for bed. Tomorrow we are planning on going to Opry Mills to see a movie at the IMAX and to shop at Black Lion (yay!).

Cinco de Mayo....

It is no secret that I went home for my Dad's birthday, which just so happens to be on Cinco de Mayo! I got into town around 2:20pm and called in an order to Bob Sykes Bar B Q for a LARGE cheeseburger (no onions) and a regular order of fries while I was on the interstate. Bob Sykes is the best place on earth and just happens to be directly across the street from my dad's office. I grabbed my food, drove across the street and settled in to eat while waiting for my sister, Seama, to meet me. I also happened to be travelling with our gigantic cat, Woogie. Turns out he had a UTI and that explains his recent strange bathroom behaviors.
Seama and I had a few errands to run before we met over at my dad's house to go to dinner. We went to Bama Fever and I bought Luke he cutest little Alabama booties to match the little hat that Laini had bought for him. We also went in the Blue Bumblebee (very super cute) and I bought a couple of things for the house. After the two stops, Seama thought she was going to die of hunger so we went through the Chick-Fil-A drive through before heading over to Publix to pick out a cake. For those of you who have never had the joy of shopping for groceries at a Publix, I can only wish that someday you will have the pleasure. Everything there is wonderful! Fresh produce, meats... the bakery is awesome, the deli is awesome, the flowers are awesome.... the staff is so helpful and nice! I could go on and on, hopefully you get the picture.
After Publix we went to the house. I got to see Sarabi (a cat that we have had since my youngest sister was like 3, she will turn 21 this year...) Sarabi is the last of the animals from my childhood, and it is always so comforting to see her run up the driveway to greet me. I dread the day when she is no longer my little welcoming committee. So I will spare you all the drama of actually figuring out WHERE we were going to eat, but we finally ended up at an Indian restaurant called Silver Coin. I got to see one of my sisters that I have not talked to or seen in almost seven years. Despite all of that time apart, we ALL had a really fun time at dinner. We laughed till our sides hurt and we had tears rolling down our cheeks. My dad always tells the funniest stories and had some doozies for us last night! After dinner we went back to the house and cut birthday cake and then parted paths for the night. I went to stay with my Nanny.
This morning, STORMS GALORE! I waited until a little after 11am before I left her house and headed back to my dad's office. I did take a detour to HomeGoods (the home portion of TJMaxx in ONE GIANT STORE). I ended up getting several things for my special Tea Party. When I finally got to the office, Seama pulled in the parking lot right behind me. We hung out for a while, played online, I ate some lunch, she ate most of my fries, and I headed out for home. I was nervous that the weather would make my trip home a nightmare, but thank GOD that I only had a lot of clouds and some light rain. The majority of the trip was great. I even made it through rush hour traffic in Nashville without much delay!
I am so glad to be home. I love Birmingham, but there is this sense of peace when I walk into my house. As soon as I pull in the garage from a trip, Dante is standing on the other side of the garage door into the house, barking excitedly. Josh says he does not think that Dante could live without me. He has to bribe him to bed by allowing him to sleep under the covers! Dante is my little Italian Greyhound. He is one of the great loves of my life. He normally sleeps with me, but under his OWN covers! In fact, he has jumped out of bed twice already to come into the living room and give me "the look" and ask me why I am still in here pecking away at the keyboard.... coming Dante!...

Inspired!

I have been looking at all of the kitchens on Kelly's Korner. It has inspired me to do some decorating of my own. I was too late to actually participate in the kitchen addition, as I just started my blog on on Friday, but spruced up my kitchen this afternoon. I have thought of so many ideas for things to do around the house before baby Luke gets here.
Josh asked me tonight what I wanted for Mother's Day!!! I told him that I would like a corner shelf/bakers rack for the kitchen because I need somewhere to display things (especially pictures of the new baby)! We would have gone to look tonight, but I have been feeling awful and didn't really get on with my day until 2:30pm. I was up at 4 am and watched the sun rise through the large semi-circle window in our bedroom! Not a good night, to say the least!
When I finally got out of the house, I went to Arby's for a ridiculously overpriced roast beef sandwich! They are the last fast food place out there that hasn't figured out that the economy pretty much stinks! It was the only thing that I could think of that was kind of plain. Luke does not allow me to eat chicken anymore, my options are limited. After Arby's, I went to Hobby Lobby (I know, I was JUST there on Saturday), then returned some movies for Josh, and finally got an oil change and picked up some canned food for Dante.
Tomorrow I am going to Birmingham to visit my dad for his birthday! I am thinking that we can just pick up some take-out Pakistani food, grab a cake, and have a little party at the house. I will be so tired from driving that I think that is about all I can handle. Currently my plans are to just stay Tuesday night and drive back late Wednesday afternoon/evening. I need to work on some things here at the house and get ready for a TEA PARTY! Yes, I am having a Mother's Day Tea Party for Josh's mom (herein referred to as Mom)! I thought it would be something neat to start since I am going to be a mom soon. Next year I plan to invite some friends and my SIL.
Okay, so enough blogging for tonight. I need to get a shower and get packed!

Blackberries and monograms

After a morning spent on the phone with the DSL department and the regular repair department at AT&T, I was told that: 1. a DSL tech would be out here sometime between 8-12 on Monday and 2. that the phone line would be fixed sometime between "now" and 5 pm on the 5th... (Dana, who lives across the street, called and was told sometime on the 6th!)....
Realizing that having no Internet would free up a lot of my day, Josh and I decided to hang out in Clarksville for the day. We went to Jersey Mike's for lunch, TCBY for "after lunch", to Hodgepodge and Artifacts downtown, over to CD warehouse and Hastings, Hobby Lobby and finally HOME! I picked up some really cool pictures that spell out Luke's name at Artifacts. They are taken by a local artist around Clarksville. We went to Hobby Lobby to get a frame and ended up having a mat made for them. VERY CUTE! After we got home, we set up the Blackberry lifeline, and I hopped online. The Blackberry IS handy, but it is kinda like a fast dial-up at this point. I cannot check in on my Facebook FarmTown, I HAVE tried, but after like 10 minutes, it still would not load properly so I gave up.

I got offline and moved over to the Brother PE 400D... This is an embroidery sewing machine that I have borrowed from Mom. I have been trying (slowly) to teach myself to use it this week. It had been pretty simple to use until tonight! I learned the importance of using stabilizer under EVERYTHING. It took me 3 forevers to get everything all untangled and back in proper working order. I was trying to put Luke's name on a burp cloth (which I thought was thick enough to go without the stabilizer) and I ended up with a tangled mess. The needle basically got stuck and stitched the same spot 3,000 times! A serious mess. I did end up finally getting it to work, but it came out crooked because the hoop you use to hold the fabric, does not really accommodate thicker fabrics and I was lucky to even get it to stay without popping apart. DRAMA! I am thankful though for the chance to get to borrow the machine. It gives me great insight into what features to look for when I finally get my own.

I get up this morning, excited to blog and what-do-you-know... The dsl is out and the tech will not be here until MONDAY! Good thing I set up this mobile capability!

Luke's Room so far... (upscale safari)

So, Friday night... Rain, rain, go away? It has rained almost every day this week! Today has been the worst! Of course, Josh welcomes the rain because it means he does not have to water the sod. I would just like the sun to peek through at some point!

Josh rented a couple of movies (neither of which I want to see). I will instead search online to find some baskets for storage under Luke's changing table.

We also set the date for a Birmingham baby shower! The theme is baby blue and white with RUBBER DUCKIES!! I cannot wait! Thank you to Laini in advance for hosting at her beautiful home! I will also be having a Tennessee shower, TBA.

okay, so, I did it! I created a blog! I thought this would be an awesome way for everyone to keep up with ALL of the upcoming activities in the Wooley house!! Enjoy!