Snippets of Survival

This will be a rambly post to be sure.  Life just seems rambly right now.  I feel like we are on fast-forward and I'm hanging onto the tow rope.  I feel humongous although I am told daily no one would ever guess I am 33 weeks along.  That's all great and such, but I weigh more than I have in my entire life and I'm bigger than I was with the other three.  And I have 7 weeks to go.  Yikes.  

Tired.  I am so tired.  The acid reflux and insomnia I experienced with Rosebud are back with vengeance and I am convinced more and more each day that I am having another girl.  Some days I wish I knew (like when I see super cute Christmas sweater dresses for a baby girl or when washing newborn clothing and finding out I loaned out/never got back most of my newborn boy clothes).  Most of the time though I'm glad I don't know.  

I bought this little dresser at a garage sale (At LMM's school of all things).  We have zero extra dresser space for baby clothes, and just about zero space to even put a dresser, so this is going to be it for awhile.  I can't say I was loving the look of it though.  

 I washed it up and sanded the whole thing, but it still wasn't quite what I was looking for.

 While we were in Vegas Rosebud turned 18 months!  She is a full fledged toddler complete with meltdowns, new words, and abundant energy.  She is wearing a size 9-12 month clothes and is somewhere between a size 3 and 4 depending on the shoe.  She weighs 19 lbs 4 oz and is 30 inches long.  Her newest word is "up" which she doesn't actually say out loud.  She mouths it and then kinda makes a "p" sound at the end.  Very cute.

 Our little Oliver is not so little anymore!  He is a good kitty and takes quite a bit of loving.  He also is feisty and if the kids don't stay out of his face (as in put their face RIGHT up to his) he'll get them...but they have been warned and they don't heed that warning.  Most of the time though he's pretty laid back and is a great family cat.  Here he is with Little Monkey Man during his morning breathing treatment.  The steroid he's on has really helped him this fall, and we haven't had many breathing issues.

 Back to the dresser. After sanding, and knowing that there was still too much varnish on it, I decided it would have to be stripped.  Have you ever texted someone and they weren't on the same wavelength and it came out all wrong to them?  Here's my text to #1 at work after we'd visited Lowe's for some dresser refinishing supplies: "Bought a stripper, but it was more expensive than I had thought".  He actually thought I was talking about a stripper and was really confused.  My next text revealed that the paint I purchased was only 50 cents.  He finally put two and two together and pulled his eyeballs back into his head.    The WOOD stripper did the trick and the paint went on well.

 I bought little wooden knobs and painted them the colors that are in our Beatrix Potter nursery/Rosebud's room.

Here's the finished product sitting in our dining room.  I was happy with the results!

It goes well with the little wardrobe (from when my brother and I were babies) that houses Rosebud's clothes.
Dresser:  $5
Stripper:  $9.99 (but there was enough left over to do a table I have out in our shed next summer)
Paint:  50 cents (look at the clearance shelf in Lowe's for paint that they didn't make the right color...super cheap!)
Knobs:  4 @ $.88 each
Knob Paint:  Already owned!

I figure all in all it was a little over $15 for the whole project (if I half the price of the stripper seems how it goes to two projects).  Not too bad.

This week both boys had Halloween parties at school and are sugared up enough to last till Christmas, let alone a party at a family friend's house Saturday and Trick-or-treat Monday night.  Good thing we give all the candy away!