Meg's Musings

an unwelcome visitant

2009-10-10T11:36:00.004-04:00

We found this in our front yard a couple of weeks ago. I thought it would make an interesting post. I was headed to the grocery store and was a little surprised to see this in our front yard. James thinks I backed over it and that is why it was there like that. He hit it with a broom stick into the neighbors yard. We didn't see it anymore after that day. I wanted him to take it to Noah's Ark (a refuge for hurt animals), but he wouldn't.

Bookshelf makeover

2009-09-21T22:18:00.005-04:00

The project that I am currently working on is helping my mom makeover her house. She has spent the past 20 years raising me and my older sister and now taking care of her parents. Her house is stuck in the early 90's. A lot of the colors are shades of pink, burgundy, and light green. We are changing it up to shades of brown, blues, and gold. She is using what little free time she has now to start bringing it up to date and cleaning out. We are looking at a very large yard sale coming up in the next month! Here is the first thing she did (with my help). It's amazing how a little project like this will make you feel so good about your whole house. This is the first thing you see when you walk into her house from the garage and it's a really good first impression now. There's many more postings to come about this makeover.

BEFORE

AFTER

There's just no words...

2009-08-03T14:24:00.004-04:00

Pregnancy pics

2009-07-29T09:45:00.011-04:00

I love the rain. I always have. I would get so excited back when I was in school when there would be a tornado drill! Bad weather is so much fun. Today I woke up to a quiet house, only dim light from outside, and the sound of rain. Just what I needed. Today is my due date and like anyone would feel I'm a little disappointed that I haven't gone into labor on my own. I wanted my water to break. I always have. Tomorrow morning I will be headed to the hospital to be induced. I have an array of emotions flowing through me right now. Joy because I will soon see my Jacob. Sadness because I am leaving behind a part of my life and turning a new page. Fear because I have never done this before and know about everything major that could go wrong. I also feel like my life could be about to end. Anticipation for the new life I will have and what it's like when two becomes three. I could go all day really coming up with all the things I'm feeling at this moment. One thing I can't wait for is when I see his face for the first time. I've heard people try to describe to me that feeling of when they see their baby for the first time and the love that they feel for them and they always stop trying because they say they can't describe it.

I've taken several pictures throughout my pregnancy to show my growth. I did well until week 25 and I guess I just got distracted with other things. My goal at the beginning was to do one picture a month. I will regret not following through with that, but I took one last pic the other day. Here are all of them.

4 weeks (just found out)

8 weeks

13 weeks (wasn't feeling too hot)

16 weeks

22 weeks

25 weeks

39 weeks and 5 days

Now here's the complete before and after pics!!!

Sunshine go away today...

2009-07-27T00:03:00.002-04:00

I might just be the last person to realize that hanging curtains above and beyond the window makes it look like you have bigger windows and actually makes the room look bigger. There's another good reason for doing this. If you work the night shift like I do, the curtains being further away from the edge of the window keeps more light out when you close them. Good for sleeping during the day. It also creates a relaxing environment for naps even if you aren't nocturnal. I also changed the curtain rods and painted the room blue. I'm typing this ahead of time and scheduling it to be posted. When it goes out I might just be having a baby! Here's my before and after.

Any day now!!!

2009-07-24T21:18:00.010-04:00

With my due date being on the 29th James and I are very anxious. If I don't spontaneously go into labor I will be induced on 7/30 at 7:30. I don't mind that at all. I like to plan things and it is a huge weight lifted off me to know that there is an end and the date and time of it. As each week has passed I get so excited about being in a new week. When I was 36 1/2 weeks I would let people know that it was "thirty six and one half weeks". Just like when you hear kids say "I'm six and one half years old!" or when your about to enter a new grade in grade school you feel so grown up that first day of school. That's how I feel every time I enter a new week of pregnancy. It almost seems like the week I just came out of is for losers and old news! haha! Today I bought milk with an August expiration date and it really hit me that I will be holding my baby soon. Seeing things planned on dates past my due date make me feel so good... and scared. I have no idea how I'm going to push this baby out! My sister-in-law Christina took some really good pictures of me that I will cherish for the rest of my life. here are a few of them.

This belly picture is of me and Sarah and it's one of my favorites!
I've finally got my nursery done pretty much the way it's going to be. The only thing is the top of the shelf has become somewhat of a storage area for toys (I'm in the market for a really cool wooden toy chest) and I plan on doing something really cool up there. If anyone has some good ideas for the top of it let me know. I'll have to post about it once it happens. I got the rug at Garden Ridge and it is soooo comfy! I got down on the floor to lie down on it because it's just sooo fluffy. I LOVE it! I got the crib on craigslist and it is from Bratt Decor. I got it for less than half what it is new and it looks like new. The chair and changing table I painted black and distressed to match the crib and you would never know they weren't a set. Especially the changing table and crib. My next project is my kitchen table and chairs. There might even be a chandelier involved! There's no telling when this will be finished though. I plan on posting about my delivery and Jacob next!!!

Mystery item in my "laundry room"

2009-07-23T15:51:00.004-04:00

I'll go ahead and warn you, this post is not for the faint!

My house was built in the 1950s time when for some reason architects didn't think anyone would need a laundry room inside their house. My "laundry room" is in a storage room off my carport. Here is a pic...

It also doubles as a tool shed. Oh, and it's also a junk room. My husbands tools and stuff are out there and he isn't at all an organized person. Truthfully I'm scared to death to do laundry after dark! There's all kinds of bugs that are attracted to the light of our house. I hope after y'all read this post 1 you will not stop reading my blog and 2 you will at least feel a little better about your laundry rooms :)

Last night I was nesting and HAD to do laundry!!! HAD to! I'll go ahead and tell you that at night time our carport turns into a slug convention. I don't know why, but they are kinda everywhere. I have this rug in front of my washer and dryer as you can see and I love it. It helps me keep my sanity because if you just look at it and the washer and dryer it isn't so bad. You just have to block out everything else in that room. Well, I looked down at the rug and it looked like a slug was crawling on it. I started putting things into the washer and was contemplating going in for the salt! I looked down at it again and realized it didn't so much look like a slug, but a little present. A mystery gift left for me by whatever is LIVING in my "laundry room"! I can already see the dirty clothes piling up. James gets the privilege of finding who our secret santa is.

Bookworm

2009-06-28T14:57:00.005-04:00

At one of the thrift stores we went to in north Ga I came across this little guy. I thought he was so cute and his sticker said "single" on it which made it even cuter to me. Vicky saw I was looking at something and said "What is that?" and I said "It's a single!" I didn't know what "single" meant exactly, but I was very glad to have found one. My sister-in-law explained to me that he was a pepper shaker and his other half was missing. Hence the "single". I still call him a single. I thought he would make a good bookworm for my new bookcase in Jacob's room. Can you spot him?

Doll heads and friends

2009-06-26T15:36:00.004-04:00

Recently I was in the north GA mountains with some friends and we hit up a few thrift stores. All the stores were very different, except for one thing...

Here are a few more token items...

Baby room makeover

2009-05-28T16:22:00.013-04:00

Jacob's room isn't quite done yet, but it's come a long way. here are some progress pics...

Above is before we even got started. It's embarrasing, but everyone's got to have a junk room... right??? When we started putting up the bead board we found that we have had hard wood floors underneath our ugly old carpet all this time! We were very pleased and confused as to why anyone would cover them up in the first place.

Now, I know what you may be thinking. What happened to his name being Tyler? Well, I was driving down the road when it hit me. Just as my name is often abbreviated as M. Estes for user names and such at school or at work, his name would be abbreviated T. Estes. TESTES!!! I just couldn't do that to him as much as I liked that name. Kids can be mean and at some point one would catch on and call him testes. I just couldn't knowingly do that to him. So now his name is Jacob Parker. The picture below is of the closet in his room. There's still a lot to be done (like putting the closet doors back on for example, I just realized we need to do that).

I could kick myself for not taking a before pic of my changing table. It was given to my mom for me and she knew I wouldn't want it based on how it looked, but she forgot about a simple little thing called spraypaint. Before it was a very light natural wood color. I painted it flat black and then took a scissor blade around the edges. Now it matches my crib (that is not up yet). My mattress pad cover matches the bedding I got. It's just a natural fiber material. I'm not into cutesy animals and stuff like that. I think they are ridiculous and will not tolerate them.

I got these letters at Michaels and spray painted them flat black. I don't know exactly what I'll do with them. They might stay propped up right there, but I don't know about the star yet.

The three pics below are a little update on my pregnancy. I'm getting bigger and bigger every day. These pics were taken last week by my sister in law who's blog you probably know well. I've gotten even bigger since these were taken. I'm 31 weeks now.

I've just got to say that my husband and my dad worked so hard on finishing the baby room for me. I'm a very lucky girl.

Bedroom makeover

2009-04-03T17:25:00.003-04:00

Here are a few pics of the old. I wasn't taking them at the time to show a before picture. I was actually taking pictures of the furniture itself. These are the best I can do as far as before pics go. James and I were really roughing it while I was in school. We didn't even have any kind of comforter at all. This plaid thing is something I made for camping and we ended up using it on our bed because it was so comfy. We got this old furniture from a man who my grandmother knew. When he passed away we got to go through his big old house and pick out things we wanted because he had no family. In his house we found special containers of his mother's nail clippings, used floss, every thing that went in never came out of that house. It was so bazaar! It was full of valuable antiques though.

Here's the after. I got the bed at Ikea. We are loving our new king sized bed. I have always wanted a king size and even if we can't fit anything else into this room that is fine with me. Being pregnant it is so nice to have a lot of room to spread out!

I got this wall shelf from Ikea also. I really like it better than drawers.

Cook in the making!

2009-04-03T00:42:00.000-04:00

I have discovered something that has changed the way we live around here at my house. It's called E-Mealz. Best thing since the kitchen sink! I've never been able to plan meals, go buy the stuff without spending a fortune, and then successfully make them and have people want to eat them. I found this online and I really like it. James even doesn't mind going grocery shopping with me now because it has a pre-made list of everything you need. It's really easy. He has really enjoyed eating here at the house every night. His mom cooked a lot when he was growing up and he really loves homemade food. Pretty much like any man does. You get a new set of meals every week on two sheets of paper. One has the shopping list and the other has the directions. Also, it makes it where you use most of the ingredients for more than one meal that way you save money and pantry space. I just LOVE it! Here are two of the meals I've made (the only two I remembered to take pictures of)...

Smokey orange chicken, potatoes, green beans

Beef pot pie. It was sooo good the day I made this because It was cold and rainy outside and this hit the spot.

Mirror Collage

2009-04-01T00:13:00.003-04:00

For the past year I've been working on this mirror collage. It's still not finished and I don't know when it will be. I'll just keep adding till it's done. I'm confident that one day I'll look at it and know it's done. I wasn't going to post about it yet, but I like the way it looks right now.

We Could Write Letters

2009-03-27T01:25:00.005-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I was given a baby shower by my fellow nurse interns at my work. I am proud to say I've finished the nurse internship and am now practicing as a non-intern. Not that there's really any difference. I always like to write thank you notes when people give me things at showers. It's always fun for me. I remember getting to do this for my bridal showers, now I get to do it again. I usually go and pick out a really cute set of thank you cards. This time I decided to make my own and it was easy. I like the ones I made more than anything I could have bought in the stores. This is something anyone.. I mean ANYONE could do!

All I got was this stamp pad, one small bird stamp, and some blank cards with envelopes. The cards I got were kind of a natural fiber paper. I always love that kind of paper! I stamped this little bird on one spot of each letter to make it simple and unique. Just one per note. I also put him on some of the envelopes. I couldn't help myself. I hope this little bird brings a smile to their faces.

The Times They Are a-Changin' II

2009-03-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

Here we have what was our old guest bedroom...

Now it looks like this...

It is soon to be our new office. As I mentioned in my previous post I got this shelf from Ikea. I am really quite fond of Ikea especially all their baby and kid stuff. You've really got to take a day and visit the store to get a feel for it all. I would recommend going early and experiencing their cheap breakfast that is really really good! Mmmm... fooood...

My hallway bathroom has taken on a slightly different look too. My shower curtain was white. Very clean and pretty white, but living with a man who works outdoors kinda puts an end to pretty fluffy white things. I've always said that If I lived alone I would have a bathroom rug that was big white and fluffy. I would be lonely, but my feet would be happy. Here is a pic of the new shower curtain I got a Target...

My next step will be to get big white fluffy towels for the bathroom that will be off-limits for the husband. I might get brown ones to match the shower curtain, then he can use them too. Yeah brown would probably be better.

Also I have this put on my bathroom mirror where I can see it every day...

It was given to me by Sarah. Check out her blog. She has a fresh outlook on life and her blog has lots of pictures of projects she has done that will give you ideas for your future projects.

The Times They Are a-Changin'

2009-03-17T01:14:00.010-04:00

Starting a new job and trying to prepare for a baby have kept me away from my blog for quite a while. Here is a pic of the soon to be nursery and you will see how much work I have ahead of me... For all the three years we've lived here this has been our office. Now it will be the nursery. You can see the glider/rocking chair that I got for free at a yard sale. It started raining so the lady said "just take it". Originally it was a honey colored wood with the blue cushions. I'm proud to say that I painted it black myself and distressed it. Within the next few weeks I'm going to have it recovered with the black and white fabric that is draped across the top of it. Stay tuned for the "after" pics. Also in this pic you can see where my min-pin Phoebe chewed up the bottom of my folding chair. Really my whole house looks like we just moved in! I can't wait to get things the way I have them pictured in my head.

In the past month I got three new bookshelves. One for the nursery, one for the new office (use to be guest room), and one for our bedroom. All of them I got from Ikea. They are the "Expedit" series. Here below is the one for the future nursery. Everything I own that has anything to do with a baby is on this shelf. It along with the crib are the only things I've gotten done so far for Ty. Oh, did I mention his name is going to be Tyler Lee? Lee is a family name that James and his dad share.

I have been collecting board books for Ty. I love how the colors look when they're all stacked together.

Here is the crib dismantled. It is black and distressed. I made the glider to match it. A while back I would babysit for a family who had this exact crib. It is the "Dick" crib from bratt decor. I fell in love with it then, but knew I would never spend that much money for something I wouldn't use that long. I was browsing craigslist one day though and I found one for sale for less than half what it is new. I am so thankful for craigslist.

Here is a pic of it from the website. If you haven't checked out this website than take time to do so because you're gonna love it!

As I was walking around snapping pictures of my works in progress I caught a glimpse of my growing belly. It's blurry, but I'm okay with that!

Thus far the no stretch marks I've been experiencing are compliments of...

I know they say cocoa butter doesn't work and stretch marks are all to do with genetics, but a girls gotta feel like she's at least tryin' to prevent them! This stuff not only comes in this adorable container, but it feels like silk. I always like to pass it on when I've found something wonderful. You don't even have to be pregnant to use this.

Another thing I've noticed is that most stretch mark lotions from Walmart or any place do not contain mineral oil. I'll have you know if you didn't already know that mineral oil does not get absorbed into the skin. It just sits on top and makes your skin feel moisturized when in fact underneath is dry skin that can't breath. It is a cheap ingredient that you will find in most all lotion. For a while I would pay the extra buck for Aveeno because it doesn't use mineral oil. I have found now that the regular ol' Palmer's cocoa butter for stretch marks is made with some nice ingredients. It's cheap too! There's got to be something said about a lotion that's sole purpose is to prevent stretch marks does not contain mineral oil! Give lotion that doesn't contain mineral oil a try in place of your regular lotion and see if you don't feel any difference. Now, I'll get off my soap box.

2009-01-29T16:04:00.002-05:00

It's a boy! I know ultrasounds are very hard to read. I had to explain over and over again to my mom what she was looking at. The ultrasound tech had to explain over and over again to me what I was looking at so I guess I have no room to talk. I'm in the process of taking monthly pictures wearing the same clothes. At the end of the pregnancy I'll upload them all so you can watch me grow!!! This is the profile of little James. We haven't completely decided what his name will be, but for now it's little James.

Can you guess??? Boy or girl???

2009-01-27T16:15:00.003-05:00

Some of you already know what it is, but for those who don't I thought it would be fun to see if y'all guess right. How good are your ultrasound reading skills?

NEXT TUESDAY!!!

2009-01-23T14:41:00.003-05:00

I wanted to share with everyone that this coming up Tuesday I should be able to find out what I'm going to have! I made an appt. with 3D baby. They usually don't take anyone till they are 14 weeks. Well, I'll be 13 weeks and 6 days... so they made an exception for me. I am tempted big time to get it done where I work. The girls I work with said they could do it easily and I could find out what it is, but then James wouldn't get to be there. So, now I'm going to just pay to have it done so he can be there. Worth every penny though. I might get it done at my work this weekend and have them seal it in an envelope what they think it is so we can be double sure on Tuesday! What do y'all think???

My 7 week ultrasound. It's gonna look a lot different on Tuesday!

The Hurst Review

2009-01-11T22:15:00.006-05:00

A girl from my nursing class and I went down to Savannah, GA for 5 days for The Hurst Review. It's a class that helps prepare us to take the NCLEX. Worth every penny! While we were down there we visited the famous River Street. I took some pics and wanted to share them here on my blog.

First pic here I felt obligated to show the cobblestones. If you have a problem with your cerebellum you might not want to come to Riverstreet. In other words, you're going to need your ballance! Also, a few years back I visited Riverstreet and the person I was with (a local) told me that people often come out at night trying to steal a cobblestone and they get arrested. I can't remember what he said the consequences were, but they were surprisingly brutal!

Here are two of many riverboats waiting for tourists. I wasn't interested.

Now, not everyone reading this blog will appreciate this. If you know anything about the freemasons you might be. My husband is very interested and that is why I took the pic. I'm also very intrigued! Let's just say this, I don't feel completely comfortable with the fact that their name is now mentioned on my blog. They were some weird group o' people! (Now I feel like I'm at O'Charley's, where everything is O'..!)

Random pic of the buildings beside the river.

Alright... now we're getting to the good stuff! If you know me than you know I had to take pics of all the candy down there!

Cute!

Heaven... I'm in heaven... And my heart beats that so I can hardly speak... And I seem to find the happiness I seek...

I had to take a pic of all this "weird candy". You know, the good stuff! You can't find this stuff just anywhere ya know!

I took this pic as we were leaving and I wanted to kick myself for not taking it when we got there. Picture this... when we got there it was a lot lighter outside and it was very dark (lights not on) inside there. There were also two cars per "cubby". I shouldn't call it a cubby though because that makes it seem warm and cuddly. Lets just call it a cave. There were about three or four of these caves all lined up in this alley. I told the other girl "there's no way EVER I would park my car in there OR retrieve my parked car"! It was creepy. I guess a long time ago people might have parked their carriages in there because it was obviously not made for cars!

Clown Chowder

2008-12-30T11:20:00.001-05:00

When I was little I thought Clam Chowder was Clown Chowder. I guess it's because of the way some people say it. I accepted Clown Chowder and I ate it all the time. I loved my Clown Chowder!

Then of course one day I must have pronunciated "clown" well and my mom caught on. She told me right then and there that it was C-l-a-m Chowder!!!
I'm not exactly sure why, but I wouldn't eat it now that I knew it had CLAMS in it! After all who eats CLAMS!!! Yeah, I know what you're thinking... who eats clowns!? Well, I did.

My sister-in-law Vicky had this special can of Extra Chunky New England Clown Chowder made especially for me. Oh, and it is "Now with extra chunks of real clown"!!!

Proof of Life

2008-12-29T10:23:00.006-05:00

I promise I'm still alive! I've been quite busy lately with graduating nursing school and the holidays among us. I haven't been creating anything. I did get some really cool Christmas presents though.

This book was given to me as a Christmas present and it is sooooo funny. You don't even have to be pregnant to enjoy it! Here are a few names of the chapters...

"Barf-O-Rama"

"Niagara in My Pants"

"Passing Stonehenge" -(personal favorite)

"www. ihavetostopbuyingbabyshit.com"

"Poopin on the Table"

It is a very realistic book, and sooo funny. You know something is funny when you laugh out loud when you're by yourself!

My sister-in-law Vicky gave me some very cool Christmas presents! Here is a hand-crafted frame she got me because she knows my style. I plan on using it in the nursery in the future.

Can anyone guess what this is???? Vicky has a funny story about how she found this! She was at a yard sale and saw it. She didn't know exactly what it was, just that it looked really cool and that I would like it. She was buying it and the people thought it was funny that she was getting something without even knowing what it was. Have you guessed it yet? It's for fish cleaning! Isn't it cool? In future posts you will see where I'm going to put it.

She also got me these adorable sock dryers. I collect them. The bottom picture is of the wall that I'm creating a collage of them. I haven't decided how to arrange these up there yet.

Y'all need to stay tuned for my next post called "Clown Chowder"!

Big News!

2008-11-30T19:37:00.006-05:00

http://christinaesteshullphotography.blogspot.com/

I know I haven't been blogging, but I have a very good excuse! After one year and three months of trying to conceive, my husband and I are very happy to announce that I am due in July!!!! It's been a long road of frustration, but I guess I'm just one of those people who it takes a year for it to happen. I was actually scheduled for a laparoscopic surgery to see if I had endometriosis. I had all the symptoms of it. I immediately cancelled that! This actually came as a complete surprise because I was all geared up for that surgery. I found out a couple of Tuesdays ago. I had failed a nursing exam that day and was a complete mess. I knew I was suppose to start my period soon, so I went to the store and got a test. When the positive line showed up I didn't really believe it. I took two more that night and all three were positive. This is a major answer to our prayers. James got home from work shortly after I found out. I told him to ask me how I did on my test. He figured I failed it (the one at school), I then said, "well ask me how I did on the OTHER test". He eventually got it. It was a very happy moment.

My first award!

2008-11-16T20:29:00.003-05:00

Holly's Haven gave me this award and I am suppose to list six things I love and then pass the award on to some others! I have really enjoyed reading her blog. I get so many great ideas from her, so if you get a chance head on over there!

1. I love bad weather

2. driving at night

3. I love tornado drills

4. I love cheese

5. fireplaces

6. and I love feeling sorry for myself every now n then ;)

Now, I get to pass the award on to some very creative bloggers!

Sarah, Vicky & Christina, and Kim

THAT'S CUTE!

2008-11-13T15:34:00.003-05:00

I was at the store today a bought a pair of shoes. It was a small personally owned store and it seemed to me that the person at the counter was most likely the owner. When put the shoes up on the counter to pay for them the sales-woman picked them up and looked them over like she had never seen them before and said, "Those are sooo cute".

Is it just me or is this weird. It's almost like she is complimenting her own stuff. What am I suppose to say, Thank you??? I didn't make the shoes, they weren't even officially my shoes yet. So, for the first time, instead of saying "thanks" or "I know, aren't they?!" I said smilingly, "You should get you a pair!"

Has this happened to you? Am I the only one who thinks it strange?

Since I don't prefer to read blogs without pictures, here is a picture of my two fur babies. Grover and Phoebe. Hmm I should have put a picture up of the shoes, but I'm wayyy to lazy right now.