Weekend


slide 3
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Telfer had a week of vacation last week. It was the perfect mixture of fun and getting.things.done. We just like to work on projects together. With the girlsies, we can't be as single-minded as we used to be but we are still a pretty good team. We managed to unpack the last few boxes, get rid of the boxes on craigslist, take multiple loads to Goodwill, take a huge load to the dump, clean out the carport (which was just embarrassing), hang curtains, fix the back door, and organize most of the closets. It was a joint effort.

On the weekend though, we played. We drove over the mountains this weekend to visit my parents. So fun. After nearly ten years of big, expensive trips to see family, a four-hour car trip is zippy in comparison. Cate and Jane did really well in the car and at my parents. Cate entertained us all weekend and had a great time playing with all of the new toys (dishes, play food!). We got a babysitter for Cate on Saturday and Mom & Dad took us to Prosser for a wonderful birthday lunch for Telfer and wine-tasting. We bought a few bottles here and here. And the best part? We get to see them again for Thanksgiving in a few short weeks.

P.S. Isn't this a great photograph? Telfer took these over the weekend at the little playground close to my parent's house.

Baby Feet


Jane’s feet
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

Okay, I have a thing with baby feet. I CANNOT put socks on baby feet! I was the exact same way with Cate. Be honest: if you got the Christmas card of our family with the picture of a sock-less Cate two months after she was born, did you think to yourself “that baby needs socks?” If given a chance, both of Cate’s grandmothers would put socks on her and then I would immediately take them off.

Now Cate wears socks all the time and I don’t think twice about it. So I thought I was over my trouble. And then I had Jane. And I still can’t put socks on those wee, sweet feet. Mostly she is in footed onepieces but on the occasion I put her in pants, I can’t bring myself to cover her feet! And so she goes sock-less at the end of October…

Label it


Spices!
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.

After unpacking a trillion boxes, I saved a long-awaited project for near the end. Organizing my spices. I get excited by stuff like this. Our kitchen is a little odd in many, many places. The stove is basically in the middle of the room. The tile is horrendous but strangely, I am beginning to like it. The refrigerator is on the back porch. Just run-of-the-mill old house types of things, really.

Back to spices. There is a little shelf in the entrance to the kitchen that called out to me when we saw the house for the first time. I bet the previous owner filled it with random knickknacks (we tend to buy houses from little old ladies) but I thought – built-in spice rack. While in the hospital, I researched spice jars thoroughly. An agonizing process. I had a lot of time on my hands obviously. I decided on these spice jars from amazon and bought 24. I loved, loved the feeling of filling the jars and then dumping the original packaging in the recycle bin. Really, this was a case of one glass jar for another glass jar. But now they all match. Love it. I broke out the label maker (always such a pleasure) and Elizabeth affixed the labels onto the jar for me. I am not so good at uniform attachment. A fun project.

When Telfer has some free time (?) I want him to take good pictures of a few of our rooms and I'll post them. We have had such a great time getting settled into this house. I also want to show you the "charm" of our two bathrooms. Seriously, the upstairs bathroom is something else but we are finding it very functional at this point!


Up close
Originally uploaded by telfandrea.