I can park in my garage again!

Great news, right?  Too bad I didn't get it done before Mim had to suffer through hot car seat buckles all summer, but at least I won't have to scrape the car this winter.


I also didn't get any before pictures.  Too bad, because it was sooooooooo awful.  It was still a huge mess from Mim's Christmas gift and it just got worse this spring- we put a lot of stuff in there and un-put away a lot of things that never ended up being put back.


Here's what it looks like now:

That dresser there in the back, that's going to be awesome someday.  I got it for $60 (I think- it might have been $80) on KSL (a local classifieds here in Utah).  So just you wait, it's going to be excellent.  Eventually. 

Remember how I said "Next up, the basement!" like a year ago?  I would say it again, but I don't want to jinx anything.

Until next time!

The thing I said I sewed

It's a car seat cover!  Nothing original and mine in particular is nothing fancy, but it works.  I got the basic measurements here.  I wasn't going to bother rounding the corners at all, but then I realized after I cut my fabric there's a practical reason- if you don't, your corners will drag on the ground.  Gross.  Even then, I didn't round them because I'm lazy.  I just cut them all off at an angle.  The same angle, at least.

My fabric on the top is a vintage sheet I got off ebay awhile ago and the bottom is just some yellow flannel.  I did a decorative scallop stitch around the edge, but other than that, there's no embellishment.  Lots of people do the flowers or bows on the velcro tabs, but I saw myself getting really annoyed with those really quickly.  Plus, I'm lazy, remember?

A good idea that I had but didn't do:  Weighing the corners or bottom with pennies or drapery weights.  In the planning stages, I was thinking about using just two cotton layers but I was worried about the wind blowing it around and messing with it, so I thought I'd put weights in it.  With the flannel on the bottom I decided it was definitely heavy enough to stay put on its own, so I didn't bother.  I still think it might be a good idea if you did do two lightweight layers, though. 

So I've dubbed this summer The Summer of NO Energy, but I think it might now be The Autumn of Doing Things Again.  I've actually already done quite a bit of organizing around the house, maybe I'll take a picture of some closets and drawers to prove it.  This happened after I had my first baby, too.  It's like all that nesting business doesn't kick in for me until after the baby comes.  Is it that way for anyone else?

The littlest is almost 4 weeks today, check it out:

{This picture is actually from a week ago, whatever.  Her baby jowls are even more developed now, hooray!}

Thanks for reading!

Not pregnant anymore!

Little Eleanor came along on August 25th, right at noon.  She weighed 9 lbs 4 oz and was 19.5 inches long and just perfect. 


I've already sewed something for her, so maybe this will also herald the return of projects/crafts/DIYing over the next bit.  It probably means that I'll at least get my fall wreath up. 

40 weeks and 2 days

Still pregnant.  Still to hot/tired to do anything except occasionally clean the house.  I hope you're well!

Using what you have (and where I've been)

I had some surprise morning glories come up a week or so ago and realized I needed a trellis sooner rather than later.  Instead of heading to the store to look around, I decided to see what we had in the shed that might work.  I found several antique gardening tools that I thought might be kind of neat, so I propped them up all together and voila!

Also, a note about morning glories- I'm talking about for-real morning glories, not bindweed.  This variety that's coming up here is Star of Yelta.  Now let's talk about the tools I used.  Can you see the little claw hand on the middle handle?  Here's a close up:

What is that?  I thought it was kind of crazy, so I left it at the top instead of just the handle.  It looks like a creepy little hand.


I thought my improvised trellis went well with the super old ladder I'm using as a plant stand on the other side of the front door:

Before we got our new awesome ladder, Mike would actually use this one to get up on our roof.  Yikes.  I'm much more comfortable with it as yard decor.


And now, where I've been:

Weeding.  And potty training.  And having down time on the couch when I overdo it and my back can't take it.

Why weeding has taken over my life:  We have a lot of perennial flower beds at our house.  Like a lot.  And with the recent lawn stuff that's been happening, I added even more (my dad thinks I'm crazy- he might be right).  Regardless of my sanity, they're lovely and they really add to the cottage-y feel of the house:

That bed in front of the brick raised bed is a new one, that's why it's so sparse right now.  Just give it a year and it'll fit right in. 

I'll spare you pictures of the potty training process (I'm pretty sure I don't have any, anyway) as well as pictures of me laying on the couch looking super pregnant and pathetic.  Speaking of pregnant- I'm 35 weeks now!  Just a little over a month and I'll have a brand new little girl!  I have a lot of sewing planned for her- mostly onsie dresses.  We'll see if I actually get it done before I go into labor, though.  I wouldn't bet on it.

Thanks for reading!