5 March is the Day

There's a house on our street that had their Christmas decorations up for months and months. It was our standing joke to see if it was still up and how long it would stay. About 3 weeks ago they finally took it all down but left it in heaps on their porch. So for the past 3 weeks, every morning when I get home from work I report to T, "Their decorations are still on their porch, in case you were wondering." Well, today was the day! CB and I were out delivering Children's Market Consignment Sale fliers and I saw someone on the porch putting the garlands, lights, ornaments, Christmas trees, etc... in Rubbermaid bins. What? I gave her a flier and she said, "Can I have 2? I actually don't live here but I'd like one and I'll give one to them too." So, apparently those neighbors are so busy that they had to hire someone to take down their Christmas decorations and today, 5 March, was the perfect day for it. I just had to laugh.

Another funny for your day: a school somewhere had some extra portable/trailers to sell off and someone listed one on ebay, hoping to get $10,000 for it. Little did they know that you have to list it with a reserve to sell it for a minimum price and it sold for $0.99! They are trying to resolve it but ebay said the sale is final. Unbelievable.

Magical Loaf

For all you vegetarians out there I just found the coolest thing ever! It's a magical meatloaf. T loooves meatloaf and was so sad to learn I would not be obliging his favorite meal. Until I found this. You can plug in what ingredients you like and it will make a recipe for you. I made a black bean, nutritional yeast, carrot, garlic, onion, s&p, sunflower seed, oatmeal, worcestshire sauce, soy flour loaf a few nights ago and it was delicious. T said, "Please, please make this again. Even though you never make anything again. Please?" Even Boozie liked it.

Hide-and-Seek

Boozie loves to play hide-and-seek. We will go and hide in another room behind something and say where's mama/papa a few times and he crawls around laughing until he finds us. He loves it and it's so funny. So yesterday I gave him a little card to play with. It's one of those annoying cards that goes on your key ring that you just have to have to get the discount at a store that everyone should get, in my opinion. But I digress, I couldn't find it after he was done and I searched under the couch, in baskets, etc... Then T searched but neither of us could find it. This morning Boozie was playing again on the ground by a stack of VHS tapes on the floor that are waiting to be sorted and donated. He picked up the top one, pulled out the VHS tape, and dumped out that little card! He must have put it there yesterday and then remembered it was in there today. Luckily he found it because I don't think I ever would've looked in the VHS tape cases. Maybe he just didn't want me to find it... :)

Tick Tock

Well, it's official. It's time to child-proof the house.


And the guilty party?


And yet, he looks so innocent :)

Terrariums

I read many interior design blogs because I love having a space to live in that has good feng sui and that makes me feel happy when I come home. I'm always amazed at what a huge difference little things can make in a house. Like last week when I organized my linen closet with one of those little wire shelves, I just couldn't stop beaming at it. So when I read about terrariums on someone's blog (don't remember whose) I got obsessed. Terrariums are containers with little plants growing that only need to be watered once every 3-4 weeks. They're very easy to manage and they look so cool.

I did tons of research and decided what I wanted to plant, only to find out it's the wrong season to buy plants. Go figure. I guess January isn't optimal plant time. Makes sense. I found some fab containers at Home Goods and spent many weeks looking for activated charcoal, which I finally found at PetSmart. I found some reindeer moss on ebay and found some other little plants at a great nursery here and the terrariums turned out so fun. Now all they need are some mini morels like these.

So here's my step-by-step in case anyone else is interested:
1. Decide if you want desert-loving plants or tropical-loving plants.
2. Find containers and be creative. You can use kitchen bowls, vases, mason jars, etc... They just have to be clear glass. If you decided on desert-loving plants, your containers don't need lids and if you're wanting a more tropical feel, they require more humidity so lids help with that.
3. Buy supplies: activated charcoal (in the fish section of a pet store), pea-sized gravel (can be found at craft supply stores or in the same fish section of a pet store), potting soil (make sure it doesn't have fungus growing in it. If you bought it new, it should be fine. Otherwise, try sterilizing it just to make sure. Instructions here).
4. Put a layer of pea-sized gravel in the bottom of your container to ensure proper drainage. I put about 1-2".


5. Put a thin layer of activated charcoal on top of the gravel to prevent bacterial growth.


6. Put as much potting soil as you want according to how high you want it in the container. You can do little mounds so there are some plants that are a bit higher than others, etc...
7. Plant your plant in the soil.


8. Lightly mist with water (this can help get the dirt off the plant leaves).
9. If you're using a lid, leave it off for 24 hours and then put it on.
10. Watch the magic happen. Those with lids will start to have condensation on the leaves and the jar.

this is after almost 3 weeks

He's one!

Boozie is now officially one, as of 6:30 this morning. Hard to believe. T & I have been reviewing everything as it was last year: how the night before he was born we were out to dinner with friends; how the day before he was born we were running errands in the Heights, buying Kiehl's, and eating at Boulevard Bread Co.; how the night before he was born we were watching Property Ladder reruns; how the day he was born was Superbowl Sunday and T was so stoked to watch it with his new baby boy, etc... Such great memories and such a great first year. Needless to say, we are big fans of Boozie.


his tasty sugar-free apple cake


he loves to rip open presents and then toss what's inside

5 Things I Like About Today

I was tagged by Kristin to do 5 things I like about today. Usually I don't like tags but this one is fun.
1) Sunshine and high temp of 52 instead of the 20s like it has been the past few days. Jogging stroller here we come!
2) I put Boozie in his crib for his nap and went downstairs to clean and organize the bathroom. We have a video monitor so every once in awhile I looked at him and he was just playing, banging his legs, and rolling around like he always does in his crib. After 30 minutes or so he was quiet and I figured he went to sleep so I went up to check on him. And this is what I found:

Apparently he had gotten the mobile down that was hanging above his crib and thought it was a fun thing to play with and then an even more fun thing to snuggle with during naptime. Priceless.
3) Looking at my linen close that now has those expand-a-shelf things in it so the stacks of sheets and pillow cases are no longer leaning.
4) Tomorrow we're actually going on a date and have a babysitter. It'll be fun but the whole time all we do is think about Boozie and hope he's okay. :)
5) Discovering the amazing capability of wool in cloth diapering.