Wednesday, January 20, 2010

My house smells like bubbilicious (and other tidbits of life)

I know, I know, I'm well past my usual "at least once a week" blog post due date. It's just...well...there isn't a whole lot going on. It's post-Christmas, pre-birthday and Valentine's Day, and mostly we've just hibernated in the 3 (!!!) degree weather (luckily it's warming back up into the 30s and 40s now). Then again, I suppose, there's always a few things one can manage to muse upon.

First off, my house smells like bubbilicious. This weekend, I noticed my 2 wallflowers had ran out of juice, so I swung by Bath & Body Works while in the mall on my quest for fabulous jeans. Feeling the need to spring Spring a little early, I figured I'd try something fun, fruity, and a little exotic. I happened upon the Pineapple Orchid scent and thought I had found my match. That was...until I plugged it in. It's just so fruuuity and sweeeeet (minus the exotic). It took me about a day to figure out what the scent reminded me of, but once I labeled it, it was absolutely unmistakable. As I don't completely abhor it, combined with the fact that I'm uber-cheap (I spent a whole $5 on a pack of two)...bubbilicious-smelling my house will remain.

=

Next up...Remember this post about the giveaway on The Vintage Pearl? Well, guess what?!? I so totally won. How super-duper exciting is that? I got my gift (a circle chain bracelet) in the mail last week and I was beyond pleased with it. Not only that, but the sweet girl who runs the place threw in a replacement chain for my dainty name necklace for free because I had mentioned the need to purchase a new one in an email I sent her about winning the giveaway (mine broke a few months back). How cool and uber-sweet is that? Now I'm officially the proud owner of two Vintage Pearl pieces and I'm so in love with them both.


Last summer, Spencer and I began our hunt for the perfect new dining table and chair set. We soon realized that with our non-existent budget, that perfect new table would actually have to be a less-than-new table. *sigh* Undeterred, I hunted high and low on craigslist and at garage sales. Mid-summer, I found it. It was just the right combination of clean lines and whimsy detail work. Not only that, it was a mere $75 for the table and six chairs. Only problem, the set definitely needed to be painted, reinforced, glued, puttied, reupholstered, etc. I left it up to Spencer because I knew he'd be doing the majority of the work. He figured it'd be a relatively easy project, just fairly time-consuming and so we went for it. It's an old-school harvester table, so the two ends pull out, making it really quite long when the need arises, but slides back in for compact, everyday use. It was perfect fit for our little dining space.

A mere (ha!) 6 months later, we have a fabulous new dining set that I am soooo in love with. Kudos to my fabulous husband who, as predicted, really did do a majority of the work. I helped a bit with a little painting and sanding of the table and reupholstering the chairs, but he did all the rest, which was A LOT.

Warning: these are crap pictures. I had my sewing stuff in the corner, a towel draped over Ezra's chair to avoid messes, my floor was desperately in need of a thorough vacuuming, and the light was horrendous. The blinds in the background, however, now those I love [insert eye roll here]. Consider yourself warned.


Georgia hates getting her hair done. She screams and writhes, making the already-painful and difficult task of getting the snarls out of her curls all the more painful and difficult. She does not like any kind of pigtails, ponytails, braids, etc. in her hair and insists, if she allows us to do anything at all, that we only put a bow clip in. As if the whole process wasn't frustrating enough, Georgia has now decided that she wants her hair flat and straight. So, she spends the entire hair-doing time trying to push her hair flat with her hands, the whole time insisting that her hair is "ugy" and "not bootiful" like I say it is and that she only wants it "fyat" and "taite". Come ON! I spend my entire friggin' life wishing for curly, voluminous hair (I have the thinnest, straightest, flattest hair ever) only to have a daughter that daily hates hers. To top it off, she's two!!! This is something I expected sometime around age 14, but 2 and a half!? You've got to be kidding me, right? I predict a looong 16 years in our future. *sigh*

Scarlett's skin has been hit really hard by the recent bitter cold. Particularly her face. Therefore, she's almost continually lathered with lotion. Well...apparently that's given her some ideas of her own. As, at the time, she couldn't get a hold of the Eucerin, she decided that Butt Paste would have to do.


The hilarious thing about this, though, is that Ezra was so shocked by the whole thing. He's the one who found her and came a-running to me completely scandalized. All it took was a couple minutes searching through the blog archives to remind him, and me, of Ezra's escapades slathering lotion-like substances all over his body, the walls, the carpet, etc. This didn't happen only a couple of times, but in fact, all. the. time.

(In case you're curious, Ezra was about 2 yrs 4 months in these pics)


Since we're talking about Ezra...

My friend, Heather, recently introduced me to the book, Parenting the Ephraim's Child. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, this book was like a being given a life raft while on a sinking ship. I'm so often so completely overwhelmed and bewildered while raising my children and I felt, more then once, that I was drowning. Discovering that I was raising two Ephraim's Children (with the strong potential of one more in Scarlett) not only gave me guidance in my parenting, but it, more importantly, let me know that I was not alone. My kids, Ezra especially, are extreeemely high maintenance. They're extremely emotionally intense, active (more Georgia on that one then Ezra), sensitive, picky, often difficult children. I love them dearly despite, and often because of their intense personality traits and this book has reminded me of all the good that can come from those traits. Georgia's not just manipulative, but she's also charismatic. Stubbornness is not just negative, it also has a positive flipside in persistence. Not only that, but it helped me recognize in myself a previous Ephriam's Child. It helps me understand my own children better when I can remember so many of the same emotions and experiences growing up. So, to any of you out there feeling completely overwhelmed with your handful of a child, know that I understand. I really, truly understand and I'd love to introduce you to my new best friend of a book.

16 comments:

Caldwell Family said...

I totally love that Table! You did an amazing job!! Way to go!

Sheffer's said...

I love the way the table turned out. It makes me want to refinish ours now! (although I would have to do it on my own, James is really not into messy projects. ;D) And I'm so glad you love the book. It was a lifesaver for me as well. Something about having two Ephraim's children really close together can really drive you crazy at times! :D

Alabama Apples said...

Fabulous table!!! Can Spence do one for me now...all just take the chairs, if that is easier. ;) Silly miss Scarlett. She is so darling with her ginormous grin!

Alabama Apples said...

Oh, I'm not sure I would love bubalicious in my house, but it makes me smile to think I know the smell of yours.

Chrissy said...

I'm totally judging your dining room.

I'll check out the book sounds interesting.
I'm was nervous about dealing with siblings but I read the book Siblings Without Rivalry and now I want to buy a copy for every woman who has more then one kid.

Ezra looks 100% like Spencer.

Chrissy said...

Ezra looks like your Spencer especially since he is covered in lotion. That was always to weird at family get together. Spencer why were you always covered in lotion?

The Staheli's said...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the table!! I want to find a smokin' deal like that!!

Aubrey said...

Yay for dining tables (we still have our little card table, sigh) and I love reading about your children. Oh and from the looks of it, I have those same blinds myself. Guess we just have the same taste in wonderful blinds... ;)

Liz said...

Your table looks so amazing!! I love, love, love it! I want to do something about our sad looking hand-me-down table.

Your kids are adorable, as always!

Zachary said...

That table turned out really well! Of course, there isn't a "before" picture to compare it to...but it looks good now!

Adrienne said...

I love the table. I'm not sure I'm up for a project that big. How did you find the time?

And I love those kids of yours. I remember Ezra at playgroups when he (and Luke) were little and Ezra never stopped moving. Or climbing on something, or getting his feelings hurt. Sounds like a cool book. The more I hear about Georgia (since I've never met her) the more I think she and Jacob are a perfect match. I think their personalities are almost identical. Too bad they're two. :)

Adrienne said...

I love the table. I'm not sure I'm up for a project that big. How did you find the time?

And I love those kids of yours. I remember Ezra at playgroups when he (and Luke) were little and Ezra never stopped moving. Or climbing on something, or getting his feelings hurt. Sounds like a cool book. The more I hear about Georgia (since I've never met her) the more I think she and Jacob are a perfect match. I think their personalities are almost identical. Too bad they're two. :)

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, good times, good times... I love reading your post; it's like peeking into your home when I'm so far away. Boo.
First, you can sooo return that scent--even if you've plugged it in for a little bit. They'll let you exchange it. I know, I know, that takes effort and bu-leave-you-me I understand the travesties that can occur w/ 3 kids in B&BW. (just ask Grey about a tower of breakable acorn candles and "not" touching them *sigh*) Anywho, maybe you can stop by yourself one evening w/o the kiddos and replace them. Just know you don't have to live with the scent.
Next, I am so happy for your win!! Nothing like that hardly EVER happens!! How exciting!! I can't wait to see it! Who knew that a fabulous win could get any better?!! BUT, it DID!! I am way impressed she threw in that necklace. What a super-nice thing!
So. I can't stress enough how much I love your table!! It is beautiful, fun, classy, and a steal-of-a-deal!! Way to go guys!! I can just picture Phillip's heart swelling with pride with your slammin' deal (albeit not on w/o it's share of work, though). Yay!! I can't wait to see it!
So. Your daughters are darling. Poor, sweet Georgia wanting what she doesn't have... She is beautful!! I hope that she comes to love her curls...maybe straighten her hair w/ a flat iron and see what she says?? Maybe that will allow her to get that out of her system?? Little Miss Scarlett is a crack-up. I love her face in the the pics. She is just so darn proud of herself. She is so beautiful!! I laughed my head off picturing Ez running to tell you of the crime Scarlie had commited and being all aghast over it. Hilarious. Thanks for the re-post of his Eucerin escapade. Ahhh, memories...slippery and greasy as they were. I sure love that kid. Give them all a huge hug from their Auntie. I miss you all!! Hugs and kisses!!

Anonymous said...

p.s. sorry for the uber-post *shrug* oh well. i sure love you.

Jeff & Erin said...

Great job on the table!! I have been wanting to do ours and cover the chairs...but of course haven't ever gotten around to it. Kaleb also liked to put gobbs of lotion or whatever he could get his hands on all over himself, usually (even still) he likes to put it in his hair!! Jenna on the other hand, not so much, but if she sees a package of wipes in her reach, you bet they will be scattered all over the room!

Such adorable kids anyway!

The Wright's said...

Impressive! Spencer has a special talent from changing nothing into something pretty special! I'd like to see before photos - but if you are anything like me, you probably don't have them!