Friday, January 30, 2009

Habitat For Hubanity: Basement Walls

Chuck and I had the basement painted on Martin Luther King, Jr. day. It was wood paneled, but we felt that it was just too dark for a basement with low ceilings and only one window in the main room. I bought some fabric while visiting my parents last year (the year before?). At the time, I had no idea what I was going to do with the three one-yard pieces, but it didn't matter (any fabric buyer will understand this, right Nicole?). But when picking out a color for the basement, I knew what had to be done: take a color from the fabric, of course! So that's what we did. From this swatch, we chose a light blue for the walls.

And here are the results:



But the greatest thing about the whole project is how much the colors all tie in. From the blue in the paint to the blues in the fabric, AND the brown in the tiles (see picture immediately above this text) to the browns in the fabric: it was really quite a miracle. I'm working on a wall quilt, but here are the finished curtains. I made them larger than the window to give the illusion that the window is larger.


P.S. Did you notice the totally awesome post title? This phrase is actually what led to the new blog title. You'll be seeing more posts in this series as we continually work on our habitat. Do enjoy.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I'll Take It

This picture may not look like much to you, but to Chuck, it means two days off from school.  For me it means one less day we have to pay a babysitter and one more day that I get Chuck at home with me and Rhett.  Even though it may not be the beautiful, soft, fluffy snows of Utah, I'll take it.

P.S. I liked this picture because you can see the ice creeping down the awning.

Monday, January 26, 2009

TANFFG Questions Revealed!

First, thanks to everyone who played. Regarding the question I posed to you about me, would I rather be cold or wet? Hands down cold. I used to think I could live in Seattle. HA. Turns out I hate being wet, whether it be beach wet, rain wet, shower wet--it's all the same, i.e. it's all miserable. When you're cold, you can at least put on layers. (The other day, I had on FOUR on the top. It was cold here!) But when you're wet, you're wet and cold and it's horrible. Good job everyone.

To Living in Tally's "Mashed v. Baked Potatoes": You'd rather have a mashed potato. Baked potatoes are more sophisticated, but mashed taste better. Besides, Bacon Bits taste better on mashed.

To emily's "Mint Chocolate Chip v. Chocolate Ice Cream": Chocolate. You tried to trick me, but I know how much you love chocolate these days.

To Nicole's "Sew v. Cross-stitch": Cross-stitch. You like being able to sit and relax yet keep semi-busy.

To Megan's "Back Scratched v. Rubbed": Rubbed. Of course there's a difference between the two. For me, I only want a scratch. But I think maybe you get scratched because it's easier for the scratcher but you require more.

To Gretchen's "Time at Bookstore v. Time at Nordstrom": I think I have to say Nordstrom. But this is the most of unsure response of them all. And the only (pitiful) reason I chose this is because I know you don't typically buy books, you only rent them from the library. Maybe this is mincing words, but it's all I have.

To Sandra's "Repeat labor v. Repeat newborn stage": I'll guess labor. But this requires a post of its own. Stay tuned.

How did I do? I'm guessing not well, but thanks for letting me try.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Welcome and Happy Inauguration!

I realize that I might have visitors stopping by given the holidays cards we sent.  To those of you who may be new here, I say "Welcome!"  As I doubt many of you care about my crazy ramblings, I'll give you what you want: pictures!   (Do you ever wish for a punctuation mark between the period and the exclamation point?  I do.  Oops, sorry.  I promised no crazy ramblings.)

Mostly we're just having fun. The four-day weekend (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Inauguration Day--don't you wish you lived in D.C.?!) was great. We spent tons of time together, including in the bath.  We also had the basement painted, but more on that later.

We're still working on Rhett's food repertoire.  Currently, he eats quesadillas (he loves olives), bread, cheese, fruits (pears, bananas, apples), veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans), pasta, couscous, and yogurt and cottage cheese.  I'm not even sure what he was eating here, but but everything about the picture is hysterical.

And then there's Bruno,.playing with Rhett's Christmas presents in a desperate plea for attention. (It didn't work.)  Bruno gave us a surprise in the form of kennel cough (surprise!).  Oh, the hubanity.  After a round of antibiotics and cough suppressants, we think he's on the mend.
As for me and Chuck, we're doing great.  Rockin' and rollin'.  You know, the usual.

P.S.  Did you notice how smokin' hot my outfit is in that picture?  The wool socks and slippers with green pajamas and the glasses that look as if they're thicker than the Bible.  Sheesh.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Another Set of Random Musings

Would it be gross to buy a wig at a thrift store and wear it?

When you hang up clothes, which direction do they face?

Is it just me, or is Bed, Bath, and Beyond becoming gaudier and gaudier? All that "As See on TV" stuff is not doing them any favors, at least in my book.

Why do I continue to pay for Thomas-brand English muffins when, in my opinion, the store brand muffins are better? They seem to come apart into two more-even halves than the name brand and may be slightly heavier.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Just In Case You Were Wondering...

No, that's not me. In fact, it would have taken large sums of money to get me to the mall for the inauguration. Instead, Chuck and I stayed home and watched it on our new TV... (don't ask; it's still a sore subject)
while sitting by the wood stove...


And now a public service announcement from moi: I am so happy that the election and subsequent inauguration are over. I just don't believe that a different president in the White House is going to make that much of a difference in my life. The things that matter to me are not going to be controlled (or even influenced) by one administration or another. Regardless of who is in the White House, my life goes on pretty much as it did.


That being said, I am excited to see how President Obama tackles his new job. The best of luck to him.

P.S. For my friends who are disgusted with me at the above thoughts, please feel free to be disgusted with me. I have my opinions and you have yours. Let's just agree to like the other things about me that you liked before and we'll never have to talk about this again.

Friday, January 16, 2009

The All New Friendly Friend Game

While traveling in Europe with R, we spent quite a lot of time on trains. To pass some of that time, we made up silly games. One was, and forgive the long title, "If-they-made-a-movie-of-your-life-who-would-play-the-starring-roles?" (If I remember correctly, I was played by Candace Cameron in my movie, although I'd rather it be Heidi Klum.)

So just in time for family home evening, I introduce to you one of the greatest games that we invented: "The-All-New-Friendly-Friend-Game." (Don't ask about the title; we were often kept awake at nights by British guys who liked army pants and therefore didn't get as much sleep as one would wish.) As you can imagine, the game is modeled after the Newlywed Game, a game in which pairs of newlyweds are asked questions about each other to see how well they know one another. Instead of being newlyweds, you only need be friends, parents, boyfriends, girlfriends... really, any relationship will do. In fact, before Chuck and I were married, we took a trip to Yellowstone with R and A (before they were RNAi) and we subjected poor Chuck to our insanity. (I'm fairly sure that he did better in the game than I.)

As with any game I create, there is no winner (unless we actually had a winner in the ingenious "Plop for the Money" trampoline game--Melissa? Kristin? Anyone remember?). You just play and see how well you know each other.

Let me start with an example. Chuck says, "Given the choice between seeing the Redskins play in the Super Bowl, the Orioles play in the World Series, and the Maryland Terrapins play in the NCAA basketball championship, which would I prefer?" Now, everyone playing would have to guess. Chuck then reveals the answer. How fun is that?! TONS.

So here's my TANFFG (pronounced "tan-fuh-fug") question for you: Would I rather be wet or cold?

Now it's your turn. Leave a comment with a question about yourself and we'll see how well I do. Feel free to answer the question about me as well. See how fun this is?!  TONS.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Incompetence Returns

Every new phase that Rhett begins, I love it. I love when he mastered the head control.  I love when he could sit up on his own.  I love when he started babbling more and more.  With each new phase, I felt better as a parent, simply because I had more time under my belt.  But with this latest one, I'm feeling like I'm a new parent all over again.

The transition to Rhett eating solid foods has been so hard for me.  I feel like once he turned six months old, the doctors said, "Go ahead and start him on solids.  God speed."  Nothing else.  Except, of course, for all the things I should not be giving him, like nuts, milk, and honey.  But I felt at a loss when it came to what I should be giving him.

Even the first part was easier: rice cereal a couple of times a day, and then move to the vegetable and fruit purees.  But now that he's too big for those, I just hate feeding time.  I want to expose him to fun and different foods, but have no idea where to start. And then when I try things, some days he'll like them and I'll be excited but then the next day he won't. And then I have four servings of couscous that I have no idea what to do with. Also, I'd like to move from just finger foods to real meals, but again, like what? I can't give him pasta stars seven nights a week.  (If you have any ideas, please let me know!)

When you are pregnant people told me how hard being a parent is, and I believed them. But I think it's hard for different reasons for different people (the same reason being married is hard for different reasons). For me, one of the hardest things has been a feeling of complete incompetence. Generally in my non-parent life, I don't feel this way. When given a problem, either I know how to solve it right away, or I know I can figure it out (this usually happens by a fancy internet search). But babies? Not even close. When Rhett was brand new, Chuck and I both felt this feeling of incompetence. After a couple of months, however, it thankfully went away. But now it's back with a vengeance. And until he's eating the same things I'm eating, I'm fairly certain it will be staying with me.


Monday, January 12, 2009

Oh, the Hubanity!

As stated in this article from Wikipedia, the phrase, "Oh, the humanity" is a satirical way to ridicule, diminish, and trivialize deep emotional feelings.

But this being a blog titled, "Oh, the Hubanity," I will only ridicule, diminish, and trivialize my own deep emotional feelings. You know, just like I've been doing at the old house, except that we no longer live on the same road. Same bat time, different bat channel.

P.S. If you know me well enough to get the new blog title's pun, then congrats! Otherwise, just know that the title is a clever twist of my name. Very clever; trust me.