Events: Spring Bazaar

Hey friends...I just wanted to let you local readers know of an upcoming event that is a definite must! I usually tag along to a few bazaars in the winter time around the holidays to shop and to sell some of my handmade items. This year I found a great opportunity in the Poppies and Petunias Spring Bazaar and  had to snag a table to share some handmade goodies. 

My mom's precious little dolls will be there in a variety of styles... you HAVE to come see them and snag one for your favorite little girl (or guy!). 

My aunt + I have been crocheting up a storm and will have a variety of items. My most popular has been these crochet baby toys. 100% cotton, no filling. Get them wet, freeze them, or use them as is and just throw them in the wash whenever needed! Super easy and very popular with teething babies! 

We'll have hats, headbands, spa items, spring scarves, and more. 

Everything would make great gifts, especially with mother's day around the corner! Click on the link above to check out the Facebook event page and see items from us and other sellers ahead of time! Hope to see you there! 

More from "BnG Handmade"

I decided to create a little "shop name" even though I'm not opening up an Etsy shop or anything that official. I wanted to have something in place in case I went there in the future, but mostly to give shoppers a way to contact me if they wanted to order something special or contact me after the Bazaars had passed. So I went with something simple and tagged my items with "BnG handmade" referencing my blog name so that everything is streamline with contact info and page information.

My handmade inventory is almost all up in Salem until Thanksgiving, but my aunt Deedee and mom,  Tami, had a bunch of goodies at the annual Country Holiday Bazaars out in Veneta this past weekend. My mom's handmade dolls are also up for individual sale, just contact me and we can work out the details. 

This weekend my crochet items and hand painted signs will be added to their inventory at Thurston High School choir's annual holiday bazaar. Come by between 10am-6pm on Black Friday or 10am-5pm on Saturday the 29th. If you can't make it but want information or to special order something, again, just shoot me an email and I can answer any questions you might have!

Thanks to all of you who visited the Bazaars and supported us by making even a small purchase! 

Christmas Bazaars + Craft Fairs

Today + tomorrow Ben's aunt Lori, my mom + I will have a table of handmade items at a Holiday Bazaar in Salem.

 

If you're in the area, I'd encourage you to stop by and check it out! Say hi to Lori for me, she'll be heading up the table both days. Here are some of the things I'll have there-

our IKEA haul

Well, we survived IKEA last weekend  2 weekends ago (I've had computer issues keeping me from posting this update until now).  On the way up with Ben's parents we were telling them that the stigma is that people get frustrated at IKEA and it puts a strain on relationships. We joked about stepping away from each other if the other couple needed space to have a discussion. I can see how it can be an overwhelming place, but if you go in with a positive outlook and with a goal it's so fun!

{we hit up Starbucks on our way out of Eugene}

When we arrived we started at the food court. I felt like the IKEA tour guide, Ben had been once with me years and years ago and Ron + Debbie had never been. I pointed everyone towards the flow of traffic to get our lunches and we ate a quick bite. 

Next we headed through the show room to browse. Debbie was able to see the Expedit bookshelves in person for a craft room project she's been planning out and Ron found a desk chair he had to have. Ben + I had a fairly long list, but we weren't planning on getting all of it. His parents ended up getting the tunnels for the boys to replace a teepee they had gifted them for Christmas that sadly kept falling apart. 

We were able to compare the bunk bed we thought we were going buy with others and ended up getting something completely different! It was nice to have Ron + Debbie there to bounce off ideas. Debbie pointed out that they'd outgrow the small one, which oddly enough I hadn't been thinking about. I was just focused on what would work for us NOW. If we had unlimited resources we'd get the small one now, then a bigger one later...but we don't. So we talked it over, looked at the small one, went back to the bigger one and decided to buy it. 

I tested out IKEA's registry app on my phone, it was fun to scan items and have them quickly appear on a registry. It was easy to use but it made an annoying ding sound every time, and it drained my phone battery pretty quickly. 

We made it through the showroom and the Children's section in about an hour, then headed down to the marketplace. Ben + I had skipped this entire portion of IKEA when we went for the first time. We thought that downstairs was all warehouse. I discovered the marketplace when I went with my girlfriends last November and was pretty excited to shop there with Ben. So many great things at low prices!

At one point Ben + I had a misunderstanding when I was asking him to grab something from one aisle to bring it to the next one so I could compare size. I turned to Debbie and asked her to excuse us for a moment (alluding to the joke we made earlier), and she thought I was serious! It was pretty funny. Not only were there no quarrels but we had a fantastic time. Ben + I surely did not take for granted the ability to shop kid-free!

We browsed here and there, made a few tiny impulse purchases and then got down to what was left on our list. We made it through in less than an hour and headed to the warehouse. When we found the bunk bed we weren't sure it would fit in Ron's Tahoe, but he thought if we folded down one side of the bench seats in the back we'd be ok.

{forever a kid at heart}

We grabbed it, Ron's chair and browed As-Is with no success. I was surprised that things were discounted very low, I'd rather pay a little more for a new and undamaged item in the rest of the store. Anyway, we checked out the food section, grabbed my mom some chocolate almond cake and then made our purchases. Aside from the beds, Ben + I spent just under $30! 

I'm not expert, this was only my 3rd time ever at IKEA but by the end of 3 hours, Ben + I had mastered a few short cuts to run back to find things rather quickly. We maneuvered through the streams of people (literally half of them pregnant women- not exaggeration) and got back to where we had left off in just minutes. 

Once we got to loading, things got pretty interesting. It took several tries to fit the bed frames in to the back of the Tahoe. They had to fold down the bigger side of the back so only one of us (me) could sit back there, so the other 3 had to squish up front...but they did it! 

When it was done, Ron slammed the back hatch closed...onto a can of Pepsi that exploded all over me. None of it got on him, or Ben- who was standing right next to me. I was covered head to toe. I screamed because the loud sound and gush in my face was rather startling and then I cracked up when I realized what had happened. I had an audience of about 20 or so shoppers coming out with their purchases. Talk about embarrassing. I managed to clean myself up back in the restrooms and not feel too sticky for the 2 hour ride home.

We stopped to drop off our 3 giant boxes for the bunk bed and our bag of stuff before going to pick up the boys. Ben + my brother put the bed together the following afternoon. Nothing like 3 ginormous boxes crowding your living space as motivation!

As you can see from the photos, the boys love the bunk bed. I had a few mini heart attacks at first when Des mastered climbing on his own. He fell from the bottom of the ladder once when he snuck in there and hasn't tried climbing it by himself since.

Malakai loved sleeping up there at first, but I think he misses our nightly 2 minute snuggles because he's been hesitant about it. Still, he falls asleep fast and stays asleep all night so far. Desmond has actually been sleeping better in his part of the bed than he was before. It's afforded us a lot of extra space in their room, which we still haven't done anything with. We're still deciding which pieces of furniture to keep/move/store in the playroom as we transition it to nursery.

We got a handful of small things as well. Mostly storage solutions...

We stocked up on kids' cutlery, which the boys use daily. The other brightly colored items are ice cube trays. I can see them being molds for other fun + crafty things as well. The roll of paper was meant for the boys' easel, I didn't measure first and it's just slightly too long. Sad day. Not pictured above are the awesome tunnels from Children's Ikea and alphabet crackers from the food section that Ron + Debbie bought the boys

We also got a "BYGEL" set, which is the vertical metal bar, the basket, hooks, and black cup. It will go up underneath the kitchen cabinets for extra storage. The black item at the bottom is a folded up under bed storage box from the SKUBB line, which is my favorite of their storage boxes, they are sturdy but cheaper than many of their other options and come in a lot of sizes + types. And of course, we bought another giant .50 IKEA bag, which has about 101 uses.

So, there you have it. What we didn't buy from my wish list I added to the registry app or have on my own personal wish list for gift ideas. I don't know that we'll officially use the IKEA registry when it comes to our baby shower, since it's so far away. However, we do have plenty of friends in Portland that might be able to use it, so you never know.

What's your favorite IKEA find? Do you have one nearby or do you have to plan a road trip to get there?

My Ikea Wishlist...

This weekend we are going to Ikea....kid free! It's a small miracle that we worked it out, but the boys will hang out with my parents for the day while we ride up with Ben's parents for a day trip to Portland, just to go to Ikea. They've never been and the one time Ben and I went together year's ago we didn't even know there was a downstairs section besides the warehouse, so we only saw the showroom. I went in November during my girl's weekend, and have been wanting to go back with Ben to check out a few things ever since.

We've been building a list, and by "we" I mean me. Here are just a few of the things I want to check out. We may buy a handful of the cheaper items or we may just eat Swedish meatballs and browse. Either way, it's kind of fun to see what other people are shopping for sometimes, so I thought I'd share what's on my Ikea wish list.

Mama's Weekend Out

On November 1st I was able to go on my first weekend away from my boys, without my husband. There were 5 of us all together that escaped to Downtown Portland for a weekend getaway.

{Kai took this photo of me while we waited for my ride}

Jamie, Aimee, Rianna and I left Eugene late Friday afternoon. We ate on the way up and then stopped in Oak Grove to meet up with Carina. She was at the "Puckett Love Shack", a gorgeous home owned by here aunt + uncle where Carina lived before she got married last year. They put on a lot of social events, but this was "First Friday" a casual potluck style gathering of friends, family and extended acquaintances on the first Friday of the month.

We gathered by the fire inside, got a tour of the house, and eventually went outside to the barn. It was such a fun time and the 4 of us with kids were relishing the ability to have long adult conversations with no interruptions and not having to get back home for bedtimes.

{Top: Jamie, Carina + I. Bottom: Shandell, Jamie, Rianna, Aimee}

Afterwards we headed to our hotel, lugging all of our stuff with us. We packed a lot of snacks and drinks. We unpacked, settled in and just enjoyed each other's company. The drive must have worn us out because we were all headed to bed before midnight. 

{In the barn @ PLS: red lighting courtesy of the toasty warm heat lamps}

Saturday morning we took our time getting ready. I snuck in a quick FaceTime chat with my guys.

Then we all split up for a bit. Carina + I went to coffee at Barista with my best friend from High School, Lindsey who lives in the area. It was great to catch up, as always. Afterwards we met up with Rianna + Aimee who were out shopping. We hit up Nordstrom Rack, and then Forever 21 and H&M at Pioneer Square. We have a Forever 21 in Eugene but it's probably a quarter the size of the Portland one, plus we had no limitations on time and no kids to tend to.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Jamie who had to tend to family business nearby. Then shopping again! I'm not a big shopper, but I just thoroughly enjoyed the social aspect of it. We had a great time. 

That night we went to dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery. Everywhere we went was nearby, we walked about 8 blocks from our hotel to the restaurant. During dinner there were a few mishaps, a spilled drink and a forgotten order so they brought us a free dessert and gave us the 40% employee discount for our "troubles", we were all thrilled, being the budget conscious ladies that we are.

Afterwards we spent more time at the hotel, and tried to go to sleep around midnight. However, our room was situated right next to the pool and weight room. The tv in the weight room was blaring nearly all night and then the sound of weights clanking on the floor woke us at 6am. A friendly complaint from Jamie and we got a free breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel, it was quite delicious. We were feeling pretty blessed by 2 discounted meals in a row.

Once we checked out we did some more shopping downtown and I was about to drop. The constant walking and lack of sleep was catching up to me. I still had a good time, I was just exhausted. Then we headed to Ikea, which is probably the last place you'd want to go when tired…but we don't have one so it was a must! I budgeted pretty tight so I only got a few things; some grey curtains that I'm super excited to put up along our sliding glass door once we paint the back living room, a few kid's room storage items, and a couple little toys to give the boys when I got home. I had only been to Ikea one other time, with Ben, YEARS ago and we didn't even realize there was more store downstairs. We went through the showroom and then thought the downstairs was just a warehouse for picking up your furniture. Imagine my surprise when I encountered miles more of Ikea goods. It was a little overwhelming but pretty exciting. Ben + I are already brainstorming a day trip there for just the two of us. 

We said our good byes to Carina and headed back to Eugene. I got dropped off at home just before 7pm Sunday night. I was so excited to see my sweet boys already in their jammies, waiting by the door for me to get home. Ben had the house ready for me to come home and relax in, cleaner than it was before I'd left. I missed them a ton, but was so grateful to take some time out for myself.

Thanks so much to Jamie for orchestrating the trip and to all the other girls as well. I had a great time visiting with all of you, I can't wait for next year!

Converting to Cloth

In our continued efforts to cut our spending in order to focus on saving money we've decided to try out cloth diapering. It only took us about 2 years to come to this decision. We considered it briefly before Kai was born, but Ben vetoed the idea. His biggest problem was the poo going in the washing machine. 4 years later, we both laugh at that being worrisome.

When Kai was about a year old we considered it again. I really looked into the savings, but again Ben wasn't too keen on the idea. I also, wasn't completely sold. I was worried that the amount of laundry I'd be doing would negate any savings. I was also used to the convenience of disposable diapers. The real clincher was that I ended up babysitting a child who was cloth diapered and I was completely turned off to the idea. The smell of the diapers and the rash that the child had were repulsive.

A couple weeks ago Ben and I were crunching numbers and moaning at how much we were still spending on disposable diapers. Even now that Malakai is (FINALLY) potty-trained we still spend about $75 every 4-6 weeks on Desmond's diapers and overnight pull-ups for Malakai. I'm currently looking into cloth overnight undies for Malakai. At $30 a pair, I'd like to figure out how to sew my own (or recruit my Mother-in-law!) before going in that direction.

I emailed a friend from college who has a little guy the same age as Desmond (check out her blog here). I knew that she'd been cloth diapering and was knowledgeable on the subject. I trust her opinion and was hoping to get better information from a friend than what I was finding scouring the internet. INFORMATION OVERLOAD! Amanda was a great help. Additionally I asked friends through facebook to share their favorite kinds. Then I crunched the numbers of half a dozen different trial programs.

I decided to go with Just Simply Baby. They had a great deal on a starter package of 10 pocket diapers, 20 inserts, 10 cloth wipes, a detergent sample, and cloth safe diaper cream for under $90. I got free shipping by adding 2 wet bags to my order and meeting the $100 minimum. They have a 30 day money back guarantee so I knew that I could send it all back if we weren't satisfied or if we decide cloth diapering doesn't work for us. Currently they are running a $10 diaper deal!

My second choice would be the trial through Jillian's Drawers. They send several types for you to try out at a fairly low cost. You can then send back any or all of them after 21 days. Your next order then ships free!

I just got our package today and have it all prepping as I type. I'm pretty excited to start something new and I'm really hopeful it'll work out and we can start saving!

 I received a trial amount of EcoSprout detergent to use, but need to figure out an affordable option for use after it runs out.  Any tips, tricks, or products you'd recommend or NOT recommend? Leave a comment!

The Holidays are upon us

It's that time of year again. I love it. It's easy to get cynical about the commercialism of the season and how stores are putting out their Christmas decor earlier and earlier each year. This year, I choose to soak it up and enjoy it.

Part of how I do this is I don't go shopping. I avoid going to the store in the months of November + December at all costs. Some of our Christmas shopping has been done for a few months, and the rest will be done online. I know there are a lot more shoppers like me out there, avoid the crowds and the stress and just shop from the comfort of your own home. So, when my mom told me about Ebates, I was pretty excited about the added benefits to doing something I do all the time anyway!

Many of you have probably heard of Ebates, but if not, it's too good a secret to keep. After signing up (and there are often great bonuses for doing so- I got a $10 Target card), you just click through Ebates to your favorite stores and when you make purchases you get a percentage in cash back. Simple, and not strings attached. You don't have to sign up for obnoxious email newsletters (but you can if you want the daily double notices), you don't have to pay any fees, you just shop through their site and the send you money back. The percentage varies from store to store and right now many of them are upping their cash back for the holiday season, so check it out!

What's more is that after you've made your 1st purchase you start getting incentives to share Ebates with friends. I shared on Facebook and because a friend bought through my link I'll get $25 cash. Super easy, what's not to love?

Let me know if you check it out and if you have any questions.
Happy shopping!

registry frustration

This post may be incredibly boring to some of you, but may serve as a warning or source of help for others...

When we registered for this baby it was our 3rd time registering for a big event. First was our wedding, second was when we were expecting Malakai. This has by far been the most frustrating of all 3 experiences. We decided to register at Target (also for a 3rd time) whether or not someone threw a baby shower or anyone got us gifts in order to take advantage of the completion discount after the due date passed. This also meant we registered for a lot more items than we would have otherwise.

The process started out normal, scanning items in excitement as we envisioned our new baby using them. It took us much longer than we anticipated, which has been the experience just about every time. I experience the usual frustration of things going out of stock or becoming out of season, but just added replacement items as necessary.

Then Target decided to "update" their website. Unfortunately this update made their website basically impossible to use. Every other link would result in an "oops" message and most items on my registry weren't showing up. They did send a discount code as an apology to all who had this issue. Unfortunately, the website wasn't fixed so using the code (online only) became a new challenge.

After over half a dozen phone calls to their customer service reps and being transferred all over the place for about a week I finally got some resolution. It involved placing my order, calling in with the number, and getting my discount applied over the phone. Just placing my order online took several days because of the items I wanted not always being visible.

Another week has passed, part of my order is here, but one of the items is wrong and I haven't heard back after contacting customer service about the mix-up 5 business days ago.

Then came the in-store discount. I only ordered items online that were eligible for free-shipping. So there were some things in-store that we used the 10% completion discount to purchase. The frustration only mounted here. Like I mentioned I added a lot of items to make sure that our shopping experience would go smoothly. I was quite familiar with what items were on my registry and what their prices should be after over a month of trying to sort things out.

When we went through check out several items did not get discounted because according to their system they weren't on the registry. We went over to customer service to figure out the issue. For some things I had scanned a pack of white baby hangers but purchased a set of blue ones which apparently doesn't work with their computers. You have to get the exact item you scanned or added online. When I asked the cashier about adding things to my registry that weren't showing up for some reason, she told me that's not really the purpose of the discount as it's meant to be used to "complete" what is already on the registry. I asked her what the difference between adding them now and having added items online from home or in store the day or even hours before. She didn't have a good answer but was determined to be as rude as possible to not only myself but her co-workers. I nearly requested a manager but Ben kept me patient and we worked through it.

The main issue wasn't even that we had purchased items that were slightly different than what we scanned but that they had recently "reset" the baby section so that numbers had changed. For example, I scanned a dresser-top diaper organizer and purchased the exact one I had scanned but the item numbers had changed in the past month so it wasn't "technically" on my registry any more. This is obviously a huge flaw in their system. So the customer service gal added this item to our registry, returned it and let us repurchase with the discount, but wouldn't do this for the other items so we returned them as they weren't absolutely necessary and we weren't willing to pay full price for them and I was tired of dealing with her attitude. Plus, Kai was getting quite antsy after what was already a long shopping trip.

Now, I have a set of blankets from Target.com that are a completely different print from what I ordered. I'm hoping that the store has the one I want so I can easily exchange them. As for the rest of our items we have over a dozen that were shipped 10 days ago but the tracking status hasn't been updated since they shipped out. I'm excited for them to arrive, but slightly dreading how many more mistakes I'll find.

I know I'm not the only one to have issues with registries and especially with Target's recent issues, but it's almost unbelievable how many separate issues we've had just trying to prepare for little brother's impending arrival. Should we decide to have more children and register again in the future we will NOT make Target our main source if we can help it.

petite

This past weekend I went on a mission for some new dress pants. All of my other pairs don't fit, which makes me sad because I have a couple of really great, like-new pairs that are now 5 sizes too big (to avoid any awkwardness, I am not going to talk about my specific size).

Being 5'2" makes finding a good pair of pants pretty hard to find. I usually just deal with the length issues or have my very talented mom hem them up for me.

I went to Target first since I had a few other things I needed there. I did not anticipate the issues I ran into. Their selection was very small and nothing fit correctly. They had a large selection of their clothing on clearance, but no dress pants.

Next I went to the mall. I'm not a fan of shopping in the first place, and I RARELY go to the mall. I can't even remember the last time I went by myself. I was hoping that JC Penney or Gap would have what I was looking for. Well fitting dress pants for under $30. Sadly I couldn't even find well fitting pants after looking above my price range. I was getting pretty frustrated.

I went to Macy's, Charlotte Russe, and Ann Taylor Loft. The Loft had a petite section with a ton of great choices. I fell in love with one too many pairs of their pants, because they were $80! However, everything was on sale for 40% off. I didn't want to spend that much, so I tried a few other places, including Forever 21. I can't wrap my mind around that place, it stresses me out (which makes me feel old).

After 3 hours of shopping, I felt defeated. I looked online, but didn't want to deal with the hassle of shipping things back + forth. I decided to go in to Old Navy while Kai was napping on Sunday afternoon. I found some really great sweaters for me + T-shirts for Kai on clearance with an additional 40% off. They had barely any dress pants in "short" length, and they happened to be in everything but my size.

I decided to go back to The Loft + use my birthday money to get the pants that I loved. I couldn't believe I was making my 2nd trip to the mall in two days. I barely go that many times in a whole year. There are a few styles that are really similar so I had a hard time remembering which ones were my favorites. I tried them on all over again and discovered that I am actually one size smaller than what I had tried on the day before.

There were 3 pairs that I really liked. So, I decided to get Ben's opinion. I bought all of them to take home, with the plan to return two pairs after he helped me narrow it down.

{Black Cotton Trousers, Grey Fluid Structure Pants, + Linen Denim Trousers}

Last night I put on a little fashion show. We still had a dilemma, Ben liked all three as well. However, he was able to rank them for me. He liked the Linen Denim Trousers best, followed by the grey pants and he wasn't the biggest fan of the black (he thought they were too plain). 

I still couldn't decide between them, so Ben smiled at me + said I could choose two. I asked him if he was sure a half dozen times. Then I still couldn't decide for myself, so I went with his choices and am taking back the black pair. Of course they are the least expensive. 

It's hard to believe that it was such a hassle to find a decent pair of (petite) dress pants. I was especially surprised by the lack of choices at big department stores. I've discovered that nothing in the juniors section looks even the least bit appealing to me anymore, but everything in the ladies or "misses" sections is usually too old for me. 

Petite or not, tell me, where do you shop for pants? How much are you willing to pay?

Thankful on a Thursday: I am not a shopper

I just don't have it in me to make it through the holiday shopping craze. It's especially challenging with a very independent and very vocal 17 month old boy. It's exhausting just chasing him around our 900 square feet house. The mall? Fahgettaboudit.

But go to the mall we did, and just before that, the Dollar Tree. I made the mistake of not bringing the stroller into the Dollar Tree. At first he walked with me holding my hand, then in a blink he was running wild around the store. When I tried to hold him, he'd lean all 25.5 lbs over my arm and whine "bweez, bweez" to get down. By the time we were finished, I was burning up and totally exhausted.

At the mall I did bring the stroller in. Malakai was taking in the sights + sounds of decorations, music, and smiling strangers for the most part. He didn't melt down until we decided to eat in the food court (I already loath the mall, but I particularly loath the food court). He threw a quick fit but was easily quieted by food and watching some older kids jump around at the table next to us.

I let him out after he ate and we played peek-a-boo with his stroller, which he thought was absolutely hilarious. Then I tried taking him to an open space to run a bit and he flipped. I guess he wasn't done playing with the stroller. He ran, he trilled, he smacked his sweet little head on a metal chair leg, he screamed, and he screamed. I scooped him up and tried to comfort him right away, but I he was still angry about the stroller and didn't seem to care about the visible lump on his head. As soon as he got to the stroller, he continued to peek at me from behind it and giggle with delight as if nothing had happened.

A few moments later, I had Malakai back up on my hip as we were trying to pack up our stuff and head out. An older man came up to me and said "Excuse me, but when he fell, he hit his head".  I assured the man that I saw Kai fall (duh, I picked him up immediately) and that he was fine. It was really strange, I'm not quite sure what his point was.

On the way out my mom wanted to grab something from Sephora. I let Malakai push the stroller around a big open space while we waited. Then it was about time to go so I put him in and he yelled at the top of his lungs while I strolled him with a forced smile towards his Mema. Luckily, I was faced with many knowing looks from women who had surely been in my shoes, instead of irritated scowls, but it was still embarrassing just the same.

I wrestled Malakai into his car seat and within minutes of leaving the parking lot he passed out. I was about ready to do the same, and we headed back home.

Whew.

Sadly, I still have a lot more shopping to get done. Next time I think I'll leave Malakai at home to run around with Ben so I can get in, get out, and get on with life.

Despite my frustrating experience, I am so thankful for...

411. my mom taking us out + about and helping with Kai when she could. She could out shop anyone I know!

412. new possibilities.

413. having enough to purchase gifts for our loved ones, as modest as they might be.

414. the ability to call out to God in times of need + praise him in times of joy.

415. short quiet moments to recharge.

416. my mischievous little boy

{in this blurry cell snapshot, he emptied his toybox so he could climb in + snag the remote}

417. a chance to celebrate my Gram on her birthday tonight with family.

418. the winter sun pouring in my window.

419. a happy healthy wonderful marriage.

420. the outlet I've found in being crafty again. It has been way too long.

What are you thankful for this week?

quarantine

Wednesday evening Malakai + I came down with a cold. Thursday I had a splitting headache + sounded like a frog man. Kai was a bit fussier than usual, but we did the Thanksgiving thing anyway.

{with Aunt Kristi at Thanksgiving round 1}

{round 2, playing with his Aunt Nanner + 2nd cousins Regis + Isaac,}

Sadly, most of the food didn't have much flavor because of my congestion. I kept eating, but nothing was as satisfying as I knew it could be. Thankfully Malakai ate really well, mostly sweet potatoes, but I was able to sneak some turkey into it.

Friday Ben had the same symptoms we did and Malakai's congestion got worse. He's never been a drooler, even while teething, but the saliva has been flowing like crazy around here. We hardly know how to deal with it.

We called Malakai's new pediatrician, Dr. B and got in right away with the other doc in the office since she was out that day. We know many people who see Dr. V so we knew we were in good hands. I had a feeling that Malakai had an ear infection. His balance had been off and he started tugging on his ear that morning (something he also never did with teething, like other kiddos do).

After a very sweet interaction with Dr. V (complete with tongue depressors in Kai's toes) he confirmed that Malakai did have an ear infection. My poor sweet little bean. He also let us know that he'd be very contagious for about a week. With all the drooling, coughing, and sneezing he was doing we thought it would be best to cancel our plans for the long weekend and quarantine ourselves.

So we currently have an empty spot waiting for a Christmas tree, and were without groceries for most of the weekend. We had to watch the football game through our xbox by ourselves, and missed out on several other interactions with family + friends.

I did accidentally go "Black Friday" shopping at Target. I was waiting for Malakai's prescription and suddenly I was on the phone with my mom checking out deals for her. It was later in the afternoon though so everything was pretty much gone. That night Ben's parents brought us over leftover turkey, cookies, and a take + bake pizza since we missed out on coming over. Saturday morning they brought us "camper" cinnamon rolls which we were supposed to have with them. It was very sweet of them to help take care of us.

Thankfully Malakai loves his antibiotics, has begun to tolerate the daily saline and nose aspirator sessions, and has a fair amount of energy during the day. He's sleeping well despite his cough and is getting less cranky as the days go by.

{sleepy mama}

We are all very exhausted from the back to back sickness. It felt like we had just gotten over the flu (or whatever it was), then Malakai had an upset stomach for a few days, and next we were hit with this nasty cold. I am thankful that we followed our instincts and took Malakai in to the doctor when we did.

We're slowly but surely on the mend and will hopefully be able to come out of quarantine soon. I'm getting a bit of cabin fever!

EcoMom: 7 days of giving

I'm a little late on posting about this, I've had so many other things to talk about recently. Better late than never...and especially better late than too late considering this event ends in a few days. 


I've partnered with EcoMom several times in the past to offer reviews + giveaways of their natural products. Now I want to tell you about an amazing event that is going currently.


Until Monday, November 29, EcoMom will randomly choose 4 orders per day and make them ABSOLUTELY FREE. No matter the purchase size, you could be a winner and your whole order will be free! What's more, they'll duplicate every free order and donate it to Baby2Baby -- a wonderful organization that helps support families in need. Everything in the store will be on sale, too, so even if your order isn't one of the free ones, you'll still be getting the best prices on eco-friendly products for your family.

Interesting Details About This Event:

• The 7 Days of Giving countdown begins November 23rd and runs through November 29th - in conjunction with our big sale. Winners will be announced daily.
• The donation will be made at a Los Angeles shelter in collaboration with Baby2Baby the week of November 29th. 
• 4 orders per day will be selected at random to get a free order. 
• In total, 28 EcoMom shoppers will get their entire bill paid for by EcoMom
• EcoMom will take care of their bill AND match the grand total with an equal donation to a Los Angeles shelter in collaboration with Baby2Baby. 
• Event partners are: Ecomom, Baby2Baby.org, Plum Organics, SmartyPants and Episencial. 
• Baby2Baby supplies Los Angeles families in need with essential baby gear and clothing for their children 0-4 years old.  They distribute new and gently used items through a network of community-based organizations.

So while you're doing your after Thanksgiving shopping online this weekend, head over to EcoMom to save during their big sale and for your chance to get your entire order for free!

to market

As usual, this past weekend was packed with activity. On Saturday while Malakai napped + Ben set up our sprinkler system out back, I stole away to the Farmer's Market for some fresh produce.

I contemplated going down the street to a farm just past our neighborhood, but when I saw on their website that they were having a big BBQ with live music, I thought I'd avoid the crowds and head downtown. Sounds a bit backwards actually.

The usual lot was so packed that there was a line of people just to pay for parking, so I searched for a metered spot. Found one by a cafe and paid for extra time since it looked to be pretty busy. In the past we've gone in the morning, so I didn't realize that by noon things were very busy! The Farmer's Market also happens to be in the same area as the Saturday Market, so about 4 city blocks are full of booths + people all day.

Something I really like about the Farmer's Market is that you can compare prices all in one place. I absolutely loath driving from store to store to find the best deal on anything. Most often I'll sacrifice a few pennies, or even dollars, to avoid driving to another store and getting in + out of the car over and over again. I think my intolerance of this came from being dragged around by my frugal mom for so many years. She could shop all day and then some, but I'm exhausted after 2 stops!

Another thing I love is how friendly everyone is. There is such a sense of community that happens while navigating your way through the locals on the same mission to buy food that someone has lovingly grown just down the street. The outside atmosphere and the bright displays of food + flowers is quite cheery compared to the florescent lights, elevator music, hurried people and shopping carts at the grocery store.

The bummer about the Farmer's Market though is that if someone runs out of something that you're waiting in line for, you've wasted your time. I had walked by a stand with some really ripe juicy peaches. They weren't on my list so I kept going. I came back however, because they looked so darn good. I stood in line and the guy in front of me bought the last box and I didn't see any other vendors selling peaches.

After walking up + down the block through the crowds and booths 3 times to compare prices I was done. I ended up with strawberries, blueberries + raspberries, as well as fresh lettuce + carrots. I really wanted tomatoes too but the only sellers that had them were asking a bit too much and they were already quite picked through.

It took me just 30 minutes to get what I needed and get back to the car where I had put some change in the expired meter behind mine only to find it ran out again and the car was still there. Oh well, I did what I could.

I got back home to Ben getting Malakai dressed for the day and prepared our lunch of fresh salad + berries. Something about eating food that has been freshly picked + washed just makes you feel good. It truly does taste so much better!

I'm newly inspired to rev up our garden {now that summer's over!}. I'm thinking of planting pumpkins in my empty garden bed and perhaps some sugar snaps along the fence on the other side of the house.

Where do you get your produce? Do you have a garden of your own? What do you grow there?

My Wish List

Ben is out finishing up his shopping for me, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some items from my wish list. My list is long, but my birthday is 4 days after Christmas so it's a combination of my desires for both occasions. 




For my kitchen: 
all photos & prices from amazon.com


A mandolin slicer- this one is expensive (Kitchenaid $49.99) and I'd settle for the much cheaper Sunbeam ($12.99)

A new kitchenaid teakettle ($29.99) I have a red teakettle but it's more on the orange side, this one would match the rest of the red appliances I have (which are a Hamilton Beach toaster oven & a Kitchenaid mixer)

A box grater ($19.99). This is actually more for Ben than for me in that maybe he won't complain about grating cheese with our current grater if we had this.

A kitchenaid pizza slicer ($9.99). Our current one was probably found in a dollar bin somewhere. The blade is chipped (how does that happen?) and the handle is falling apart.

Electronics: (my husband isn't allowed to buy from this section anymore)

A card reader for adding photos to my computer. The Canon Rebel that we borrow from my FIL doesn't connect to our computer so I am using our point and shoot digi cam as a card reader at the moment. This one is $9.99 on Amazon

And today I realized I would like a micro SD card for my phone (the enV2) because I keep running out of space for my photos (mostly of Malakai) and get tired of texting them to photobucket so I can make room for more every time I want to take a photo. This one is just $12.99 at Bestbuy.com 

Apparel:

A variety of tops from Target including this one, which was $12.99 when I added it but is probably on the clearance racks by now.

And these lovely items from Old Navy

a v-neck hoodie in green $12.99

a pretty little lace cami $10

a colorful scarf that was $12.50 when I added it- now on sale for $8

and I'd also like some skid free socks (no photo) to keep me from sliding around our wood floors.

Books:

(all photos & prices from Amazon)

Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures (Paperback) $14.93 (read about this on Heather Armstrong's blog, Dooce)

The Attachment Parenting Book : A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby (Paperback) $10.07

The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition) (Paperback) $14.29

The Toddlers Busy Book: 365 Creative Games and Activities to Keep Your 1 1/2- to 3-Year-Old Busy (Paperback) $9.95

Household & Miscellany:

Navy & Charcoal bath towels...from wherever, as long as they are large & fluffy

Jumbo Dry Erase Wall Calendar $14.99

A shadow box ($24.99) for our orchid leis from our Hawaiian honeymoon that are still beautiful, but hidden in a shoebox somewhere...

A purse organizer $19.99

First Year Frame $19.99

Double Hang Closet Rod $14.99 for our TINY closets that need a lot of help

Red Curtains for our bedroom from anywhere (the curtains that came with the house are light purple with pink squares where the sun faded them)

Dark brown floating shelves to put the breakables up high as part of our baby-proofing efforts, again, from anywhere..

Correcting Smoothing Primer from Sephora $18

Matte Top Coat $10 makes any nail polish matted!

And finally-

Etoile Three-row band ring from Tiffany only $7,975!

Haha- yeah right! That last one was inspired by Ben's "ridicu-list" where he added things to his list like a $4,000 flat screen tv and other amazingly expensive items that we can't begin to afford.

So hopefully my list inspired those of you who are like me and have no idea what to ask for every year. If not, hope you at least enjoyed getting to know me a little better through my wish list.