Having kids is great because....why, again?

This afternoon while I was reading the mail, Maren went upstairs, got hold of a bottle of toilet cleaner, and squeezed about half of it onto the carpet in my bedroom. The carpet that I just had cleaned last week, to the tune of $130. I tried and I can't get it out, so I just had to call the carpet cleaner AGAIN and schedule him to come out tomorrow to (hopefully) fix it.

I think I'm going to go cry now.

Ribbon topiary

I found the instructions for this in the Making Memories book called Ribbonrie and couldn't resist making one, since I love ribbon! It was really easy--you just cut the ribbon/trims to 4" lengths and make loops, sticking them to a styrofoam ball with a straight pin. When the ball is covered, you stick a painted dowel rod into the bottom the ball and into a piece of floral foam that is wedged into your container. Then you hot glue moss to the top of the floral foam to hide it. I tied a ribbon around my pot and later added a little metal charm that said "Happy Halloween."

I made mine for Halloween (since it's my favorite holiday) but you could do any colors/container you want. I found these cute black flowerpots at JoAnn's on clearance and I already had a lot orange/black/white ribbon. I found that wider ribbon/trim is the best because it fills up more space and you need less, but using some skinny ones for a varation in texture is good too. They do take a lot of ribbon, but you can watch and get it on sale or Michael's usually has a big bin of $1 ribbon spools. Cute and easy!

This should have been added to yesterday's thrift report but I couldn't get Blogger to upload my photo. Blogger may be free, but it may be one of those "you get what you pay for" cases. Maybe I'll bite the bullet and switch to TypePad.

Anyway, this bracelet was the absolute SCORE of that thrifting trip! It's vintage Coro and it is in perfect condition. The stones are all there and they are red with an aurora borealis coating. This bracelet is just gorgeous! I wore it yesterday and had to keep looking at my wrist to admire it, LOL! The best part? It was only $4.95!! That, my friends, is an absolute steal!

In just about 40 minutes I'm going to pack up Maren and head to the airport to pick up my Mom, who's coming to visit for the weekend. We're headed down to southern Colorado tomorrow to visit my grandparents for a few days. I'm hoping to squeeze in a little trip to the junk shop in their small town. The junk is deep and the prices are cheap--just the way I like it!

Tuesday Thrift finds

Ran to my fave thrift yesterday. I was actually looking for a few things for the guest room, but found these goodies instead!

Big Bowl o' Buttons, $3.95. These are new, not vintage--oh, there may be few, but for the most part they are modern and they are all in pastels: pale shell pink, seafoam green, butter yellow, pearly white. There were several other similar bags of buttons, all divided up by color but I thought this bag was definitely the prettiest. Wonder who donated all those buttons? Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them.

Vintage printed tablecloth, $2.95. The colors on this one are still very vivid and the grey hasn't disappeared, so this must not have seen much use. This cloth is rectangular which I think is a little more unusual; most of the printed tablecloths I come across are 40" squares. This will fit on my table, and the red will look great in my kitchen. There are some stains so I'll do the Oxyclean trick, but if they don't come out at least I won't feel bad if I spill something on it! One of these days I'm going to get a book on vintage tablecloths so maybe I can identify the makers. Some of them have labels but the majority do not, it seems.


Vintage Vera linen tablecloth, $2.95. This is so cute! From the picture it's hard to get an idea of scale, but each strawberry is about the size of a salad plate. There are some pretty bad yellow stains on this cloth so I'll soak it and then I think I'll hang it in the sun tomorrow and hope for the best. I bought it with the idea of resale but I may just keep it for myself.

Hot Pants!

As you may surmise from my previous post, we had quite the eventful trip to the grocery store this afternoon. In Sunday's paper there were several coupons for the things that are on sale at Albertson's right now and I still had a $2.00 off coupon for cereal, so I decided to go back. With my extra coupons, I got 7 boxes of cereal (yes...more Cinnamon Toast Crunch & Cheerios), a box of brownie mix, a cake mix and a tube of crescent rolls for $7.25. Take that, suckas! I always feel like I'm Sticking It To The Man when I get a really great deal like that.

Speaking of REALLY GREAT DEALS, prior to our trip to Albertson's, Maren and I went to a clothing store with the initials O.N. to pick up some jeans for her to wear this fall. It's been quite chilly here lately and she has nothing but sundresses and one pair of denim capris, so it's time to go shopping. As I was paying for my purchases, I noticed the woman being rung up next to me had an enormous pile of black yoga pants. Then I saw the price tags--$.17! I must have done a double take because she laughed and said, "Yes, they really are just 17 cents each! I'm going to buy them to donate." Wha??? Pants for seventeen cents? Out of my way!

For some strange reason my particular store has piles and piles of these pants that they've been storing since last year and they finally can clearance them out. They originally retailed for $16.50. Why they'd even go to the trouble for $.17 is beyond me--they'd probably be better off donating them and writing them off--but whatever! The manager was enforcing a limit of 10 pair per transaction, but he was allowing multiple transactions so I ended up buying 3 transactions' worth, or 30 pair. I'll keep some for me, gift them, sell them, or if nothing else I can just donate them. Heck, for 17 cents, I can just wear a pair once and throw them away--to heck with doing laundry!

So that was the excitement for the day. Maren took a pathetic 1 hour nap so she was more than ready to go to bed, and I'm headed upstairs to work on the guest room so my Mom has a place to sleep when she visits later this week. Good night!

Do you know what it sounds like when an entire box of Honey Nut Cheerios is poured on the floor in the middle of a grocery store aisle?


I do.

Bargains and Badgers

This weekend was the designated yard sale days for our subdivision (they put out a big sign, advertise in the paper, etc.). This was actually the second one of the year and it traditionally gets fewer sales but I put Maren in the car and went out hunting on the way to Albertson's. I stopped at one place and bought 2 clipboards to make into altered clipboards and a Roald Dahl book for my collection for a quarter each. At this sale I noticed they had 18 of these separated into lots of 6 and priced at $10 for each half dozen. I wasn't sure how well they sold and I only had $15 cash on me so I passed them up, but I kept thinking about them. It's times like these that I wish I knew how to use the internet from my cell phone.

I was close enough that I ran home and looked up Completed Listings on eBay for similar mugs and when I saw the totals in the $100 range, I grabbed a twenty and jumped back in the car. I'm sure I drove well above the speed limit in our neighborhood trying to get back there, because I was so anxious that someone else would snatch them up before I got back! Lucky for me, they were still there and I handed over my $30 without even bothering to haggle.

After I had my mugs stowed safely in my trunk I headed to Albertson's because they're doing their big 10/$15 sale on cereal and many other items. If you buy 10 of the sale items at once, you get an extra $5 off so that makes each item only a dollar apiece! I harbor a not-so-secret obsession with Cinnamon Toast Crunch and it happens to be one of the cereals on sale, so I stock up whenever they have this sale. I was down to 2 boxes but thanks to my shopping spree today, my stock is now at a healthy 17 boxes (eek!). If the Apocalypse comes, at least I'll have good breakfast.

I bought a few other things as well, enough to make 20 items so I'd get the extra $10 off. I also had a coupon for $1.00 off 3 boxes of cereal to use. Once I had paid, the checker handed me one of those coupons that prints at the register that was good for $2 off 5 boxes of the same cereal I'd just bought. So I walked over and grabbed 5 more boxes, because 5 x $1.50=$7.50 and $7.50-$2.00=$5.50 so that made each box $1.10 each, almost as good as the previous deal! And then when I bought those, the checker handed me another $2 off coupon! At that point Maren was behaving like the offspring of an unholy mating between an octopus and a rabid badger so I had to go, but I may just go back and use my new coupon on 5 more boxes of cereal.

If I had known I was going to get that printout coupon, I'd have separated my first order into two groups of 10. I would have gotten the coupon after paying for the first 10, and then I could have applied it towards the second 10, making them $.80 apiece. (Yes, I thought about this the whole way home.) Ah well. My neighbor said that she and a friend have a little competition whenever Albertson's runs this sale to see who can save the most money. She said her order total was something like $100 but with the savings, the store owed her $4! The friend had an order in the $50 range and with the sales she ended up getting $3 back. That's hardcore, man. Makes me get a little tear in my eye.

Maren's had quite a morning, too. Aside from acting like a rabid octo-badger in the grocery store, she also managed to climb from her high chair to one of the kitchen chairs, and let herself down. I left her in there eating grapes and came into the office to check my email. Seeing her toddle in, knowing that I'd just left her in the high chair and realizing what she'd done definitely qualified for an "oh sh!t" moment. Sometimes I fear that Quin and I are losing the battle of wits with this one. Oy.

Not much later I was standing at the sink washing dishes and Maren was fiddling in the trash with Bronco nearby. I looked over to see her holding out a Dr. Pepper can to him and giggling, and in a sickening flash realized that she was holding the can that I had poured the used oil into after cooking last night's dinner of homemade coconut shrimp. I'd placed it in the trash upright so the oil wouldn't spill into the rest of the bag, but apparently I'd left it just within Octo-baby's reach and she expertly honed in on the one thing in the trash that would make the biggest mess in the least amount of time. It should be mentioned that prior to washing the dishes, I had just bathed Maren and dressed her in the very cute little t-shirt that I bought at Target last night. That same shirt was now nearly transparent in the front because of the amount of vegetable oil spilled on it, and the front of her hair was matted and glossy from the same. Clothes went in the wash with lots of soap and Maren went directly to her crib for a nap.

Now there is blissful quiet and I can work on my list of Things To Do. I've got to whip up an altered clipboard to show the ladies at church tomorrow, make 3 posters to advertise an upcoming church activity, and did I mention that Quin leaves tomorrow for the next 2 weeks? No more blogging! I've got stuff to do!

Thrift leftovers

Blogger's behaving again, so I can post my last two pictures. At top left is a square throw pillow. The fan fabric on the back caught my eye, because I know I've seen it before on somebody's blog! Can't remember who, however. The front is patchwork and isn't particularly darling, but the fabrics are old. Next is the corner of a cute vintage apron. The fabric is aqua with yellow and red birds on it, and it's finished with orange (?) rickrack. It has a cute shape and I loved the fabric! At the bottom is the corner of a vintage printed tablecloth. It's a small one and I thought it would be perfect for the little table in Maren's room when she gets older and wants to have a tea party.


Last is another reason I should always listen to my Mom! I told her I've been looking at this sequined fruit on eBay for a while and I was actually going to bid on a lot that ended the same day I found these. My mom told me to just keep looking and I'd probably find some at a thrift or garage sale, and she was right! These were $4, which is less than it would have cost to even mail them if I'd bought them off eBay. I'm still on the lookout for a pineapple and some cherries or strawberries, but I think I'll wait on eBay and hope that the thrift gods smile down on me again!

Thrift catch up

I have a wonderful husband. Last Friday he was off of work and he took over Maren duties for most of the day while I went out shopping & running errands. It was so nice to be able to do them alone! I managed to squeeze in a few quick thrifts while I was out so here are a few pictures of my finds, as well as a few things from the past few weeks that I hadn't photographed yet.
At left we have 2 sets of Japanese stacking mugs. I have no idea why I keep buying these; maybe it's because all the cool girls have them, and I want to be like the cool girls. I don't drink coffee or hot chocolate and they don't sell well on eBay, so I have no idea what I'm going to do with them. The bowl is vintage Color Craft aluminum and was 30 cents.
Next up we have 2 vintage Fire-King mugs. Both were 60 cents each and both will go on eBay in a lot of FK mugs I've been collecting. The Jingle Bells were in a bag of other sewing supplies I bought a little while back. The 2 vintage pillowcases will be made into dresses, eventually. The pink one in the front is actually the same as one I bought earlier this summer and made into a dress for a friend's daughter. Funny that I'd find another!

I bought these three flower pins a couple of weeks ago. The pink one isn't vintage (it's Joan Rivers) but I thought it was cute and I am a sucker for polka dots. The gold one has little wires in the middle that are topped with little rhinestones in 2 different shades of green. I thought the greens would be pretty for fall. The one at bottom right is special. It's sterling silver and turquoise and mother of pearl and is marked TAXCO. I haven't been able to figure out who the artist was (it is marked with initials) or an approximate date yet, which I'd like to do before I list it on eBay. It's a pin but also has a loop for hanging from a chain. It's pretty, but not my style so I hope it sells well!

There's more, but Blogger won't cooperate so those will have to wait until another post.

Citius! Altius! Fortius!

This morning Maren and Daddy competed in the first annual Daddy-Daughter Olympics put on by our church at a local park. Despite temperatures hovering around 60 degrees and wet grass leftover from last night's rain, we showed up so that Maren could have her first taste of dominating the competition. Okay, so we knew that Maren would probably be too little to truly compete in most of the events, but we went anyway. Quin wanted to have team uniforms so last night I got out the stamps and acrylic paint and whacked out a couple of shirts to his specifications.
Both of the shirts say "TEAM GERMAN" on the front, Maren's in pink and Quin's in black. We wanted to put "The Destroyer" on the back of Maren's shirt but it was just too long to fit, so we went with this instead:
We thought it appropriate. Maren mostly just wandered around looking adorable and being loved on by the older girls who were there with their dads. We did have to put her sweater back on her after a while because it was just too darn cold, but I think the other teams got the message that the Germans were there and they were ready to win. Here's the back of Quin's shirt:
100% inappropriate for a church activity, right? We thought it was pretty funny. I'm not sure if we amuse anyone else as much as we amuse ourselves? Yeah, probably not.
Unfortunately, we had to leave the Olympics after just 3 of the 5 events and before the lunch. Maren has a drippy nose and a cough as it is, and she was wet from playing in the grass and spilling juice down her front, all of which resulted in a slightly sticky, cold, crabby little girl. It was also getting to be naptime, so we packed up the hound and the baby and came home. We'll probably spend the rest of the day in various states of nappage (Quin, Maren and Bronco) and puttering about the house (Me) until tonight, when we're going over to some friends' house to watch the BYU football team lose. Have a great Saturday!

Feelin' Fruity

These were in a big bag full of cookie cutters that probably cost me 2 or 3 dollars, I can't remember exactly. These of course were my favorites; the others were a bunch more of the type at the bottom in Christmas shapes (boring) and a complete set of 1977 Wilton alphabet cutters. I have a partial set of these from another find; they were part of a larger Sesame Street set. I have the Sesame guys and now I have the complete alphabet! They're the type of plastic cutters that are really useless for cookies, but really great for using with Play-Doh, so they'll get stored in the closet until Maren is old enough to play with it and not eat it.

This last item will probably get me made fun of by my Mom and most definitely my husband. It's a necklace of plastic beads with little plastic fruit charms. I loved the little fruits and bought it with the intention of taking them off and using them for other things, but I'm almost tempted to leave the necklace as is and wear it when I'm feeling particularly brave and Carmen Miranda-ish!

I think I'm in a kitschy fruit state of mind since I've been obsessed with things like this on eBay lately. I caved and bought myself a set of the beaded fruit and promptly got a snarky comment about my fruit and velvet Jesus paintings from Quin. I don't care; I love it! I didn't realize until I got my beaded fruit that not all of it is sequined also, so right now I'm on the lookout for some of that type. If you're going to do kitsch, do it all the way!

A few more thrift treasures from the weekend spree. All of these were in big bags o' stuff that I bought at the thrift for a couple of dollars apiece. Most of the time there's one great thing in the bag and the rest is a bunch of junk, and I have a hard time spending 2-4 dollars for that one item when I know I'll just be donating the rest back. I got lucky this time and the bags had lots of good stuff in them! One bag had these vintage Jello molds and the vintage sifter with the painted handle, along with a set of Tupperwear S&P shakers that I'll try to sell, a set of interlocking travel toiletry bottles and this Rubbermaid thing that fits in the corner of the dishwasher. The little Jello molds look so cute when you put a lit tealight candle in them because the metal reflects the light and you get a really pretty, soft glow. I have them all lined up on my kitchen windowsill with little red candles in them and they make me so happy to see!
This next grouping came from 2 bags: the silver baby cup and the medicine spoon in one bag and the old packages in another. The silver cup was completely black with tarnish and I worried that the silverplate finish might be ruined, but a little silver polish and a lot of scrubbing took all that nasty tarnish off and there is a darling little cup underneath! Don't know that it's very old and it wasn't engraved, but I love it. The old packages were in one bag (at $6 my most expensive buy) and they are neat! There is a tin of Mirro coffee pot cleaner that is still full, a box of birthday candles, a Piper Heidsieck tobacco tin and an old prescription pillbox. There was also an old Army bandage I forgot to photograph.

The little birthday candle box is adorable! It even had a few old pink birthday candles inside, although they've melted into a clump. The box opens like a matchbox and has the most adorable graphic on the back. From the style of illustration it looks like maybe it's from the 1930s or 40s. LOVE IT. This would make the neatest little holder for a teeny tiny birthday card or accordion album.

This is the inside of the pillbox. It's from a pharmacy in downtown Denver, no idea if it still exists. I didn't realize that prescriptions didn't always come in bottles! Never thought about pills coming in little boxes like this one. It has a date of 11-17-54. This would also make a cute little holder for an album or a card, but I'm not sure I could bear to part with either this or the birthday candle box. I don't know what I'll do with them, but I feel the need to squirrel them away for a while until I decide.

In a little while I have to load up the baby and the dog and head to Petco, where Bronco has an appointment to be washed and brushed. He's shedding like crazy and he hasn't had a bath in the longest time so I'm glad to have it done. I vacuumed very thoroughly yesterday morning and there are already clumps of dog hair all over the wood floor and it's making me CRAZY. I love our dog, but sometimes I'd like to just shave him bald. Poor Quin, he probably thinks the same thing about me sometimes!

Thrifty weekend

Had a good weekend, thrift-wise. On Friday morning I had to get up early to run errands so I thought I might hit a few close estate sales while I was out. I went to the first one (run by family, billed as a 'living estate') and spent $2.75 on 3 books, a clipboard, and a vintage knitting caddy. I went to the second one, run by a professional company, and walked out empty-handed and disgusted. The pricing was outrageous! I always expect a markup at professionally-run estate sales, but $5 for a single pillowcase (not a pair, not vintage, not anything remarkable)? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. Really, it was beyond ridiculous. I saw many other people walking out without buying anything and I know exactly why. I'll stick to garage sales and thrifts from now on.

Saturday, I was near a thrift I don't normally shop because I think their prices are a little high. I was kid-less and decided to just run in for a second--famous last words--to look for a sheet for my guest room bed. Turned out they were having their monthly 50% off day. Normally those days are a mob scene and I avoid the stores at all costs, but because it was later in the day it wasn't busy. I bought a bunch of great stuff for $20 (some on sale, some not) and was thrilled with my finds! The picture above is a set of vintage spun aluminum canisters that was $2.00 with the discount. I love them! I don't have room on my countertop for them so I think I'll display them up on the soffett with the other stuff I love but don't have room for.

I bought lots more and will post it later!

Croc-a-doodle-doo

These are Miss Maren's new kicks. Aren't they adorable? They're tiny little (fake) Crocs. Quin went shopping for them on Friday and this is what he came home with. I think he chose well! They are darling, and with the variegated colors they will go with a good part of Maren's wardrobe. Here she is modeling them:

On being a Sloth

So remember in my previous post, when I said that I hate it when people flake out on things? Um, that would be me this morning. Ugh. A couple of days ago a lady I go to church with called and asked if I would help her pass out flyers for an upcoming church function. I said I would, because I figured I could put Maren in the stroller and get some much-needed exercise walking around, and also because I know how hard it is to get people to do stuff like this. I was supposed to meet at the church at 9:00 a.m. this morning to get my assignment.

I woke up at 8:45 a.m.

Oopsie. I didn't set my alarm last night, as I almost never sleep that long and Maren is usually up by then anyways. When I climbed out of the deep pit of slumber and opened my eyes and saw the clock, I honestly thought I could make it (despite the fact that it takes a good 10-12 minutes to even get to the church) and rushed around throwing clothes on and trying to get together a portable breakfast for Maren and me. At five minutes to 9:00 I realized it wasn't going to happen, and I meekly called and left an apologetic message for the woman who I'd flaked out on. I do have the chance to redeem myself, as they're meeting again on Saturday morning. I don't particularly want to go then, which is why I had chosen today in the first place, but I feel that I need to make up for my flakiness. Maybe if I ask nicely, Quin will join me with the hound, and if I get really lucky, someone will be having a yard sale along my route!

My late wake-up and the ensuing flake-out have totally screwed up my morning. I feel completely out of sorts and don't feel like doing much of anything besides staring at the computer and wasting my time reading blogs. In fact, I've already done about 2 hours of that and I'm not even tired yet! I put Maren down for her nap more than an hour ago which means I'm wasting precious Maren-free time that I should be using to get my mountain of stuff ready for eBay, but I just can't quite muster up the energy. I do have several errands to run this afternoon when Maren wakes up so I'm going to have to kick it into gear at some point, but that point is still a few hours away.

I have done one productive thing this morning--I signed up for the Red & Aqua Swap over on Swap-bot! I read about it on Jenny's blog, Allsorts, and immediately knew that I wanted to be a part of it. Red and turquoise are my favorite colors. It used to be separately, but this summer I've seen how they look together and I simply adore the combination! This will be my first time in a swap but I've looked with envy at the swap packages people have posted on their blogs and I can't wait to get in on that! It will be such fun to shop for Red & Aqua things at the craft store and while thrifting. I think I'll even stamp some goodies for my swap partner. I have a feeling this may not be my last swap!

25 Questions

1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?

Somewhere in Utah, so we could move home and be close to our families again

2. What's your favorite article of clothing?

Currently--my white linen shirt. Nice and comfy and cool, and I've even gotten over the fact that it gets wrinkly the moment I put it on. Also LOVE the blue courderoy jacket I bought for fall.

3. Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex?

Shoulders

4. What's the last CD that you bought?

Disney's Greatest Hits. Had my eye on it for a couple of years now as I think it will be fun to listen to with my kids in the car.

5. Where's your favorite place to be?

With my family. :)

6. Where is your least favorite place to be?

In line, anywhere. I'm impatient!

7. What's your favorite place to be massaged?

Back and shoulders, but I like it kind of soft. None of that deep-tissue stuff for me. Ouch!

8. Strong in mind or strong in body?

Mind. I'm kind of a wimp!

9. What time do you wake up in the morning?

Between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. I try to wake up before Maren but don't always succeed. I wish I was better at getting up early because I'd love to get up and exercise.

10. What is your favorite kitchen appliance?

Dishwasher! I don't like washing dishes. Fave kitchen tool is my sharp knives.

11. What makes you really angry?

People who flake out on their responsibilities

12. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?

I played the flute in high school and really liked it. I wish I could play the piano because it would come in handy. I've always wanted to play guitar but I'm not willing to cut off all my fingernails to do it! Vanity takes over on that one.

13. Favorite color?

A tie between red and turquoise. Love the way they look together, too!

14. Which do you prefer...van or SUV?

SUV. We drive a Nissan Pathfinder now and love it.

15. Do you believe in an afterlife?

Most definitely.

16. Favorite children's book?

Hard, hard choice for me. I have always loved to read, and I don't think I have one single favorite. Love Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, and can't wait to read it to my little ducklings!

17. What is your favorite season?

Right now it's Fall. I do love Summer, though.

18. What is your least favorite household chore?

Cleaning the bathrooms. No question.

19. If you could have one super power, what would it be?

Ability to stop time.

20. If you have a tattoo, what is it?

No tattoos for me. Not a fan of tattoos in general.

21. Can you juggle?

I juggle taking care of a toddler, a household, a husband, family and friend relationships, church callings, personal hobbies--is that what you mean by 'juggle'?

22. The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to?

Honestly, don't know. No answer for this one.

23. What's your favorite day?

Monday, because Quin has the day off so it's like an extension of the weekend.

24. What's in the trunk of your car?

A stroller, the dog's leash, an old towel and a baby blanket.

25. Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger?

That's tough! Probably sushi from Sonoda's, most specifically the Tempura Shrimp roll. YUM!

Well, poop.

So it turns out we aren't going to Hawaii next week after all. Seems the folks in Hawaii who would be paying Quin's way have spent all their money for this quarter, so it's a no go. They will get more money when the new quarter starts Sept. 1 so there is still hope that perhaps we can go sometime between then and the end of the year. The hardest part will be actually finding a time to go, as Quin has lots going on for work this fall. He'll be gone for 2 weeks each month in September, October and December, plus he now has drill weekends to work around, and my Mom and I have plans to go on a girls' weekend to New York City the last weekend of October or the first weekend in November. We'll have to get out the calendar and see if there's a week when we're free--I'm willing to squeeze it in wherever I can! Hopes springs eternal.

And she ran, she ran so far away

Can you guess Maren's favorite 1980s band?

If you said A Flock of Seagulls, you guessed right!

hello again

I've been a lazy blogger, haven't I? It was lack of sleep for 5 nights that did it to me. We never have gotten our smoke detector problem completely fixed. In my last post, we'd changed the batteries in all the units and were sure that would help--until approximately 1:30 a.m., when the alarms went off yet again, nearly reducing Quin and me to tears and successfully reducing Maren to screams and tears. Finally, at 3 a.m. when the alarm had gone off multiple times and nothing we'd tried had worked, Quin just unhooked all 7 of the units and we slept in peace.

The next day, Quin called the manufacturer of the smoke alarms and they gave him some long list of things he was supposed to do upon changing the batteries, up to and including standing on one leg and howling at the moon, it seemed. We haven't actually been brave enough to attempt putting them all back together yet, as it's going to take quite a while to do the complete process with all 7 units and get them wired and put back up. Also, I think we're scared that despite the manufacturer's assurances, it won't work and we'll find that out in the wee hours of the morning again. I just don't know that our sanity can take such a blow.

The fourth night (Thursday), we were looking to a nice, quiet slumber as the alarms were all unplugged, but for some reason I couldn't get to sleep and tossed and turned for several hours before making the questionable-but-done-out-of-desperation decision to take an Ambien at 2 a.m. I believe you're supposed to block off a good 8 hours for sleep after you've taken one of those, but Maren woke up far before I'd gotten in my full allotment, so I was a total zombie for a few hours that morning.

That night I was so exhausted that I was actually sick to my stomach but was also stressed that I might have insomnia again, so with much trepidation we got ready for bed. We were interrupted at 10:40 p.m. when my mom called to give us the bad news that my dear grandmother had been in a car accident. She didn't know any other details, so we had no idea how severe the situation was, but anytime your 80-year-old grandmother is in a car accident at night, you can surmise that the outcome won't be great. Oddly though, I wasn't worried too much, as we'd said a prayer for her and I felt calm. However, I still couldn't sleep and spent most of the night drifiting in and out of a fitful sleep on the couch and in the guest bed. So if you're keeping count, that's night #5 of bad sleep in a row. Thankfully, I was able to sleep well on night #6 and every other night since then.

My grandmother was hit by a drunk driver who was also high on drugs at the time. My Gram slowed way down and moved over in her lane just before she was hit, which surely saved her life. As it is, she has a broken wrist and hand, a large wound on her arm, and some severe damage to her eye that she already has very poor sight in. Things obviously could have been much worse--I could be preparing to go to Alamosa right now, instead of preparing to go to Hawaii, like I am!

Yes, that's right--Hawaii! There's a very good chance that Quin will be going to Hawaii next week for work, and Maren and I might be joining him! His trip will be all expenses paid, and Maren is under 2 so we don't have to buy an airplane ticket for her, so all we'd need to purchase is my airfare and of course whatever we do while we're there. We think it's just too good of an opportunity to pass up, plus NO WAY am I staying here with the Li'l Monster for a week while Quin whoops it up on Waikiki for a week. Forget it. Quin will hopefully find out today if he's going or not, so we can get the go-ahead to purchase my ticket and make hotel reservations.

So that's the update. The photo at the top is some stuff I picked up at a garage sale and a thrift store recently. The wooden bowl was $2.00 and I thought it would look neat with some silk leaves and dried gourds in it this fall. The vintage child's utensils were .25 and .50 and are too cute! The little pie server actually matches some forks and knives I bought at an estate sale a while back. I don't know what the 2 wood things are, but I thought they looked neat so I bought them anyway. They were .50 each. They look like some sort of spindle, and are about a foot tall. Thought they would make a good display item. And the quilt--that's my favorite! It was $6.95 at my favorite thrift and will be so great for Halloween decorating with the yellow, orange and black stars. It's very soft and a little worn, just the way I like quilts to be. I'm not sure that it's particularly old--the whole thing is sewn with a zigzag stitch--and in some places a bright yellow fabric has been used instead of the lighter color which looks weird, but I still think it's neat and was terribly excited to find it!

Mystery solved (we hope!)

As I had feared, it was a bad night again last night. The smoke alarm first went off at 12:36 am, and then again moments later. It woke us up with a groan rather than a frenzied leap out of bed this time, as we knew it was coming. It did wake up poor Maren though, and she was terrified. It's a horrible thing as a parent to hear your child cry those frightened, frantic sobs and grip you like her little life depends on it because she's scared. I got her back to sleep quickly, despite her terror and attempted to get back to sleep myself. This whole stupid thing has been like Chinese Water Torture--I knew the smoke alarm was going to go off again and wake us up, but I didn't know if it would be in 5 minutes or in an hour. So I just laid awake, trying to will myself back to sleep but waiting warily for that horrible screech to come again.

And come it did--this time at around 4 a.m. Maren slept through that one, but woke screaming and scared again when the alarm rang 4 times in a row at 6 a.m. Oy. Mercifully, we both fell back asleep and the alarm hasn't rung again since, allowing us to sleep in.

I finally called the Fire Department this afternoon and spoke with a man who said that they hear about this same problem all the time. Normally when the battery in your alarm starts to die, the alarm beeps to alert you to change it. Since all the alarms in the house are connected, when one unit's battery starts to go, they all go off. The thing about the particular brand of smoke detector we have is that if you don't use Eveready batteries when you replace them, all kinds of problems can happen because for some reason they aren't compatible with the alarms. I pulled the battery out of the closest alarm and it is a Walgreens brand, put there by the previous owners of our house. You're supposed to change all the batteries in your smoke alarms once a year anyway, and we haven't ever done it in the 2 years we've lived here and who knows how long they were in before that, so I guess it's time for a change anyway. Quin's going to pick up 7 new Eveready 9 volts on his way home and tonight we'll have a battery-changing party, and then hope like crazy for a silent, peaceful night.