Something I learned

If you give Eli 10 minutes of unsupervised time (which in our house means, all the doors are locked and the kitchen gate is SUPPOSED to be shut), normally it goes by without any problems.  He plays with his train set, and I get the upstairs tidied up.

Not today.  Because the mama left the kitchen gate open.  I realized at the end of the time that it was very, very quiet downstairs.  Too quiet.  I go downstairs, and notice the gate open.  Oh no.  Then the scent hit me from across the house, and I knew from 50 feet away what I was going to find. 

It was the distinct scent of Nestle Chocolate powder.

Sure enough, a brand new container of the powder I occasionally put in Eli's milk (or mine.........) to make it a chocolate treat was all.over.  All over him, and all over the chair that he'd pulled over there to get it, and all in the canister of flour that he'd started digging into to sprinkle OVER the chocolate powder.

You might be asking, well, what did you do about it ? 

I have no idea yet.  I'm writing this blog post so I can ignore the kitchen for a few more minutes to think of the best way to solve this problem.  I wish I had my camera fixed so I could snap a picture of it.  Oh well.... the house smells like a giant chocolate cake now at least !

A quick update

Many things have changed since my last post.  It has been an extremely busy 5 months.

- first off, my absence coincides with my pregnancy.  We are expecting a little girl in early November.  I'm 25 weeks now, and she is incredibly active.  I feel much more regular and strong movement than I ever did with Eli.  No decision will be made on her name until we see her, although we have several leading choices.  I have another ultrasound to see her on this Monday, as she was too active in the last ultrasound to get a good look at her heart.  I'm looking forward to seeing her again, as last visit she simply moved too much to get a good look at her !

-  We bought and moved into a house.  We moved in the middle of May, and we are finally getting settled.  It is a wonderful 1904-built two story with hardwood floors throughout.  It is a gift from God.

- We've been in the middle of home improvements.  We've redone the garden beds, taking out the covering of river rock that was 3 inches deep in all the beds, discovering and removing the concrete pad that was UNDERNEATH a couple inches of dirt, and finally improving the soil with lots of compost, adding my plants and covering with lovely mulch.  I've got a large vegetable garden going, with 8 buttercup squash, 4 cabbages, 6 muskmelon, a watermelon, and 2 rows of green beans.  There are also zinnias in there for cutting, which I've greatly enjoyed.  There are also 4 mature rhubarbs on the property, and I have a freezer nearly full with chopped rhubarb to bake with !  Finally, today the final stage of my dishwasher will be finished.  This is why I've had no time - I've been hand washing dishes for 2 months.  Ben finished the plumbing this past weekend, and the electrician is coming today to finish the wiring work.   We found a very high end dishwasher on clearance at Sears, and I'm just thrilled with how it will look in the end.

- I've been continuing with my New Year's Resolution to declutter a thing every day. It continued throughout packing at the old place, and maintained it through unpacking here.  I just started conquering some of my hanging clothes and went through my lingerie and threw away what was clearly junky or no longer a practical option.  I added 3 bags to the donation/garage sale pile and a full bag of trash.  We've gone through our books and gotten rid of some easy pickings, and we're focusing on reading books that we own that will likely be one-time reads.  On my radar for today is to go through some of my knicknacks (and Ben's knicknacks...) that are stored in my blanket chest right now and getting rid of the things that are not in use.  We don't have a linen closet in this house, and I need to actually put blankets in that chest !

-  We've had Ben's parents out (to help us move) and my parents over the 4th of July weekend.  We will be seeing my beloved Uncle Bryan and Aunt Linda and their dog, Emily (who Eli ADORES) this coming weekend and we are very excited for it.  We feel like we live in a situation now where we can have people come to see us.  There just wasn't room in the last few places.

-  Eli is his charming cute self.  He has picked up a lot of speaking skills in the last few months and now chats our ears off.  He loves everything boy, especially trains and tractors, and just discovered jumping and loves to jump wherever and whenever.  He hopped on the scale when we were at the Vet's last week, and he's weighing 39.4 lbs.  He's just under 40 inches, so he's still a very BIG boy.  He enjoys going for bike rides and helping me with chores (holding the dustpan while I sweep is a favorite), and Heidi is still his best friend.

I need to move along with my day, but I do hope to be back more regularly.  It's going to be pictureless for a while.  Our camera is (probably irreversibly) broken, but is at the repair shop right now.  Otherwise I'll need to start camera shopping !

My new addictions...

A few of the things that are occupying my time lately (because I obviously have not been spending it blogging !  I do have an excuse - my laptop has been broken for almost a month now.  It has squashed the normal in bed blogging I was doing)

• I am positively drooling at all of the goodies over at Knock Off Wood .  She looks at different Pottery Barn, West Elm and other lovely furniture looks, and then makes plans to make that same item at a fraction of the cost.  I've already received promises from Ben to make a couple of the pieces, including the Hyde Coffee Table.

• I'm in love with my new Olfa Circular Cutter .  That thing has seriously changed my crafting life.  I used to hate cutting circles - trying to find the right bowl in my house to make a good template etc.  I now sit in front of a movie with Ben at night and cut out all my circles for felt food like tomatoes, cucumbers etc.  Zip Zip Zip.

• We're knee deep in working in my New Year's resolution of getting rid of/donating/selling one thing a day.  It's been very successful and I dropped off 3 bags/boxes at Salvation Army this past weekend, and have sold quite a few things, earning several hundred dollars in spending money.  Yahoo !

Catching up..

I'm going to be posting frequently to catch up on the topics I've been meaning to cover.  Let me skim over the Pre-Christmas-Trip-Home bit.

I won a lovely giveaway during the Sew Mama Sew blog giveaway from  Angie over at Quilting Melodies .  She had chosen my sewing tip as one of her favorites, and said she's send me a surprise.

Sure enough, a few days later, these beauties appeared in the mail:

Two delicate, beautiful, crocheted snowflakes for our Christmas tree.  They hang beautifully and are a much appreciated addition to the tree ! 

We also took advantage of a community event where they were given horse drawn wagon rides around the GreenWay in East Grand Forks.  It was bitterly cold, but enjoyable.  Eli really liked the horse and their jingle bells.

While we were waiting for our turn to ride the horses, we went inside the mall, where Eli got to ride a horse all by himself.  He LOVED it.

In the next edition of catching up from a month ago - our trip back to Michigan and Christmas !

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming

I know there's been a gap in posting - I've just been so busy !  We drove home to visit family in Michigan for 10 days around Christmas.  It's been a busy few days recovering from the drive and getting our family up and running again.  Highlights from the break:

-  We drove through the winter storm (known as Blizzard Alvin here in the Dakotas).  It was a very long trip and a couple of more difficult bits, but all and all not a bad drive back from Michigan.

-  We visited twice with my beloved friends Andy and Joanna and their little guy Jordan, and the second time we saw them we also spent the morning with Jo's parents, and one of my best friends, Bill.  It was a blessed time and so wonderful to be with people who know your 'back' story and you don't have to explain everything to.

-  Got to see my beautiful niece Cora several times and be enchanted with her whimsical personality.  She is such a GIRL compared to Eli, I could scarcely believe it.

-  Speaking of my Eli, at my parent's house, he liked to drive their toy size shopping cart around the most. He also enjoyed their child size table that is perfectly set up for coloring.

I need to close this post now, because I could type for hours to detail all the wonderful aspects for spending over a week with family.  I have lots of my current sewing projects to show off tomorrow, including a peak at the giveaway I won during the Sew Mama Sew Dec. 2 giveaway !