You Are Allowed To Pop Out Anytime Now

The nursery is complete. Furniture has been constructed. The shower is over. S is growing increasingly more uncomfortable by the day. Names have been chosen. Well, OK, in all fairness no real names have been chosen but for the last month the babies have been referred to as Hammer and Anvil by B and just the other day I heard S use the names too so I guess its official. Believe me, this is far better than Helmüt and Thor which were circulating for a while. Yeah, those never really caught on with S. I wonder why?

With the nursery walls complete they will need to accessorize. I am thinking of buying them this lino block print by beeczarcardsandgifts:


Guess Rock Band will be out for roughly the next year. I have no idea where we will store all those components but it looks like we are going to have to break down and buy it. I swore there would never be a gaming system in my house but as with so many other things in life it is important never to say never since most of the time that is exactly when it will happen.

The culmination of many projects came to a close this past week and the start of two more begin this week. Man I love being busy!

First are the two bags I was commissioned to design and create for my Mom’s friend. She is giving them to her sisters; one is in New Jersey and the other is in San Diego. I would be more than happy to drop off the latter in person so feel free to fly me on out there. Respectively, the bags are named City Girl and Casual Coast. There is one center section, six outside pockets and four inside pockets which include a cell phone and pen pocket to hold three pens. They take a while to construct but I really love how well these turned out. Perhaps I will make some to put in my Etsy shop once I have wrapped up the next two jobs.





Speaking of the next two jobs, here is the sample board for the strie next week. It is a blue over a yellow-orange so the glaze will show as teal. The base color is called Gingerbread Man and I just love it as a warm and cozy feeling hue. The board looks angelic because it was scanned in so pay no mind to the aura surrounding it. This job will begin Wednesday after I get my car back from the dealer to determine why my pesky check engine light came on a couple weeks ago. I choose to blame it on the rain.

The other sample board will be laid out a little later this morning so no photo yet but it is going to be two adjacent walls of faux brick. I convinced her not to put actual spackle on the walls since she has small children and one out of control matchbox car or toy box lid could be the end of that finish. Instead it will be a multi tone glaze application and some highlight and shading to give the feeling of real bricks.

Now for the big guns: the nursery!

Before with gray rag faux treatment & damaged ceiling

Bye-bye gray!

Yes, measuring out little tick marks, lining up the laser level and taping took an entire day

Voila! Ceiling, trim and strie stripes complete! Just one last step to go…

A cozy nursery for Hammer and Anvil, my soon to be born “nephews”

Sorry S, I had to post the “illegal” picture.

Awesomeness

That’s right. Awesome is just too weak a word to describe all the fantastic things going on lately and the addition of the ness is completely warranted. I am physically beat but so energized and feeling creative again for the first time in a long time!

First and foremost I am working a few faux jobs again which I completely forgot how much I enjoy doing. There is frustration, sweat, dust and spackle in my eyes sometimes not to mention glaze on my bare knees and falling asleep on the sofa in front of the Red Sox game at nine o’clock, only to wake up at eleven asking Matt “Did we win?” but when it all comes together and I see the ridiculous look of excitement on the face of my clients it is all worth it in the end.

So I started the nursery for S&B this week. Wait, let me back up a little bit. S, as many of you know, is pregnant with twins and was sent home on bed rest a month ago after a quick but scary stay in the hospital. Her baby shower is this weekend but I have very superstitious beliefs about baby showers. I almost never go to them but if I do I will only get a gift for the parents and never anything baby related. For example when M was pregnant years ago I gave my Hospital Survival Kit gift including books she & J would enjoy and a few other time passing activity type items like a board game and some mad libs. The second those boys were born I was shopping for them but not a moment before. With all that in mind, and the fact that S is like another sister, their gift had to be really special. Once they started talking about moving B’s office out of that room I knew exactly what it would be.

We worked together on colors and a finish that would be elegant but still kid, good for boys but not baby blue and something I could get done quick just in case she popped really early. We finally settled on nine inch strie stripes in alternating milk chocolate brown and cornflower blue. Today I spent 5 hours measuring out, tick marking and running the tape lines on all the walls, tomorrow will be the brown stripe and Thursday the blue goes up. It is going to be so killer I wish I was still there painting right now.

Next week begins another strie job in conjunction with some repair work at a client I acquired through my Interior Designer contact I have worked with a few times now. Time to buy a radio as that job will be just me and the walls. Massachusetts is having their “tax free holiday” this weekend so score for saving five percent on everything!

Earlier this week I was humbled and honored to receive this:

Sandra Ree is one of my very favorite new blogs I now try to read every day because she is a sweetie and her photography is a-ma-zing. I could not believe she chose me as a recipient of this blog award and seriously I was touched. Thanks girl! The basic premise is I pay it forward and pass the award on to seven bloggers. I would like to pass this pretty prismatic crystal statue on to: Bridgete, Ginger, Judi, Jim, Kate and Trayce. You all rock bloglandia in your own special ways and I applaud all of you for it!

The dreaded tag occurred this week as well but instead of being bummed about it I welcome the challenge from David! If none of you have ever read his blog be warned that there is a lot of straight shooting and cursing from an amazingly talented writer. I love it. Hope you do too.

And now, seven random facts about me? Bring it on baby!

1. I reinvent myself just about every day. Seriously I have more than enough personalities on reserve for everyone to enjoy.

2. I started smoking again when my sister was in town. No judgment. Someday quitting will stick.

3. Red meat left my diet about 6 months ago and I barely miss it.

4. I love to feel the personal victory that comes with talking to a man about football and knowing more than he does. There was a commercial on for Direct TV a long time ago when the installer was talking about the channels a couple would get and the woman started asking about all the sports she could watch. At the end the man looked bewildered but the woman and the installer bumped fists. I like to think of myself as being that girl.

5. My favorite movie of all time is The Goonies.

6. I really miss having a dishwasher. Unless you count Matt.

7. I always struggle with the seventh random fact because I want it to be one of those heavy hitters that makes people laugh or cry. Yeah, I got nothin’.

So as is my rule I am not going to tag anyone back. If you feel like participating though by all means go for it because random facts are always a fun read.

My final bo-bickety happy dance moment happened last night when I opened my yahoo mail and discovered that a fairly prominent musician I had requested to interview for The Organic Mechanic not only said yes but sent back her responses. I am so excited to post this interview on Friday I could burst right out of this chair. I hope you all get a chance to stop by and read it because she is amazing and so sweet to take the time out of a very busy tour schedule to answer my questions. I hope it helps both her and our blog with a boost!

So that is about it. Time to go fall asleep on the sofa in front of the Sox game.