THRIFT FINDS

It's been a while since I've been able to do any thrift shopping. I was on a specific mission of a plain white newborn sleeper - do you think I could find one? No. But I did find some other great things. This might be my favorite find and deal ever! Everything below cost me $10!

 I love these old high chairs, not necessarily for personal use (although Aubrey loves it an actually eats at the table now) and it doesn't really go with my decor but I've always wanted one for photos. It will go great on my white wood slatted backdrop or out in a tall grassy field. And the best part - it was only $0.99! The weather is dictating how much furniture the store can keep outside and they are inundated with large items so they have to clear some out - good for me! It looked like it had not been cleaned EVER! So I used a Norwex cloth (the kitchen scouring one) and it cleaned up really easily - all the caked on food from little hands under the arm rests - yuck!

 

Every time I come across old vintage Fisher Price toys, I have to grab them. This one didn't work but the price reflected it, so I was ok with getting it as a decorative item in Aubrey's room. I'm thinking about redoing her room with a more vintage eclectic feel.

 I always have to check the book section and I'm pretty good at quickly scouring the spines for specific ones: Dr. Seuss (Cat in the Hat books large and small), Berenstein Bear books, Classic Disney in the same style and Eric Carle books.

We do have too many books but at $0.50 (and at Value Village when you buy 4 you get the 5th free), I can't pass up getting the classics.

STUCK INDOORS

Aubrey has had a cold for the last few days and we've been stuck inside trying to come up with things to do. We have painted, played ping pong and memory game and while she crafted I sat and did a few crafts of my own that I had been meaning to do. They were so simple, but it seems like more simple to task, the more I put off doing it. Maybe I think it won't take long, so I could do that anytime.

 I came across this tutorial on personalizing mugs like those at Anthropology, so I gave it my try.

 All you need are some mugs (we had some that came with our dish set, we don't use them all that often so if this didn't work, it wasn't a big deal), some carbon paper or a dark pencil to make your own, a permanent fine marker suitable for porcelain/ceramic and some letters to trace.

I printed off some letters and traced those.

 Once I transferred the letter onto the mug traced over it with the marker and filled it in.

I had also seen a dishtowel with this measurement conversion on it (online) and that I need something like that in my kitchen, so I just typed it up and printed it off to fit in this little Ikea frame I have sitting above my kitchen sink.

A month or so ago I finally got some storage boxes (because I didn't already have enough Ikea stuff in my house!) and organized all my crafts and stuff. I had these big empty shelves that seemed to be hard to find boxes that were the right size to utilize the space properly. I had to settle on smaller boxes then I wanted, but it has been probably better as things don't get lost and tangled in one big box. I have a spot for everything.

GIRLY

 

 Although she still likes playing with anything Cars, Aubrey has recently started liking girly things like Disney princesses and today - hair and make up! She wanted to put in as many hair clips as possible!

 

Then I caught her looking in the mirror putting on her pretend make up I made her. I had an empty eye shadow so I filled it with pink nail polish and let it dry. 

ANOTHER TRY AT PAINTING

 

 This one was a quick one. My proportions are off on her head again and I can't paint a face that small and make it look recognizable - not sure how to do that. 

So I moved on to a more close up of a face again.

This is a photo I took for a friend recently, here's the photo:

 

I think I have a hard time making kids faces wide enough, I keep thinning them out.

LEFTY

 It seems as though she takes after her dad.

 I can always count on one good weird face when taking photos of her!

 We tried making toilet paper tube owls today - well, I did. Aubrey wasn't so interested, but she did like mine.

She was happier drawing. She's getting a lot better at drawing people, adding a few more details here and there.

She drew these people today on the chalkboard.

I like how "daddy" has one long hair coming out of his head. I asked her if it was Rapunzel but she insisted it was daddy.

VALENTINE'S DAY IN

 

Jared brought Aubrey and I a chocolate rose and a card. I also got some Theo's sipping chocolate.

Aubrey made daddy a card.

 

 Since we went out the night before with Dana & Jeremy we decided to stay home for Valentine's Day and Jared made dinner instead. Aubrey went to bed, then we had dinner.

 

He made steaks (I only ate half of mine - it was huge!), asparagus and roasted garlic mash potatoes. He also made some cheese bread sticks from the left over pizza dough.

It was a nice quiet night and I think the food was better then if we had have gone out!

LAST BALLET CLASS

 

 Well, ballet started out good and didn't end so well. 

She went the first couple times just fine, but Jared had to take her the 3rd time and she wouldn't go in the class at all. Then the next week, I took her and she wouldn't go in again. Then I found out it was the last class as the following week was a holiday! I was annoyed because the class is for 5 classes, not 4 and I paid full price. I was also annoyed because no one called to tell me this ahead of time so I didn't know it was her last class, therefore didn't bring my camera as it's the only class the adults can watch and take photos. The teacher let me come in with her and she sat and watched with me until she was ready to join them. The teacher was good, but not very patient, especially with the parents and not very personable. The parents were only able to come in for the last 5 minutes or less so Jared came back and we got to watch. These are the few photos I could quickly take on my phone.

Aubrey is the only one with leg warmers, if that helps you pick her out!

She's on the right side and hidden most of the time!

 

 

 I tried to switch to video and then she saw us and came running over right away. Oh well!

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO:

 

Aubrey decided to be a cowgirl again.

 

Every time I bring out something that Aubrey has her own size version of, she has to get hers too!

 

Jared made the BEST pizza 2 Sundays ago - and the toppings were just things we happened to have in the fridge as we forgot to buy pineapple, peppers and mushrooms! We had bought some pepperoni slices and had deli turkey in the freezer and some turkey bacon. He caramelized some onions and put it all together and it was the BEST!

 

Dana & Jeremy Orrego came for a visit last week for a couple days. They stayed with us for one night and we were able to show them around a little bit. Here they are at Kerry Park which has the best view. Then we went downtown to Pike Place where they got to sample lots of good food like fresh roasted nuts, mini doughnuts, mini cheesecakes and Beecher's Mac + Cheese. Then we went to Lunch Box Lab for lunch and drove them through Freemont and stopped at Theo's chocolate store for some free samples.
Then we took Aubrey to her last Ballet class (more on that in another post) and then met them back at the hotel for dinner at Shuckers. It's by far my favorite sea food restaurant!

 Oysters

 Jeremy's clams and muscles

This is a bad photo but the food is so good! It's the mixed grill which comes with some salmon, large scallop, a couple prawns, 2 crab legs and and some crab mac + cheese. It doesn't look like a lot of food but it's so filling, I never finish it.

 

Pike Place is always good for some fruit samples.

PAIN IN THE BACK (+ THE NECK)

(not my x-ray, just an example)

When we were in Victoria in early January, I pulled something in my lower back while taking photos. Then I slept on an air mattress for a few nights. When I got home, it continued to hurt for over a month but was just starting to feel better when I slipped on some clothes on the wood floor in Aubrey's room. I caught myself but it did further damage and hurt more then the previous injury. 

Early this week I finally went to a Chiropractor close-by. He took x-rays and there a few things wrong with my back: 1. my neck is straight, not curved (middle photo above), this is probably causing my weekly headache; 2. my spine comes out at an angle from my tailbone instead of going straight up which is causing one leg to be shorter and throwing off my whole spine; 3. Some of the vertebrae are rotated and 4. all the muscles in my back and shoulders are tight when resting. 

I've gone 3 times this week for an adjustment and have been given stretches to do. My initial lower back pain seems to have been relieved and is going away. I have a few pinched nerves elsewhere now as a result, but that's going away too.

The medical system is confusing here but we seem to have good coverage. We have co-pays for every time we see a doctor or go to the hospital etc. The chiro is $20/visit but they are giving it to me for half that because I can't afford $20/visit for 12 visits, so that's really nice. The Chiropractic office also does massage therapy and the cost is the same price as an adjustment visit for an hour of massage - so that's a great deal and I need to start doing that once a week along with chiro 2x week.

Walking really helps my back and I try to go for a walk once a day, but today Aubrey is starting to get a cold and I don't want to take her outside as it's cold and windy. We might just go to a mall and do some walking there.

FLOWER + GARDEN SHOW

Last weekend the three of us went to the Flower + Garden Show at the Convention Center as Jared was given three tickets. We weren't entirely sure if we were interested in going as although we like flowers and landscape design - we don't have a yard right now. We decided to go one evening after Jared got off work and it was a more enjoyable time then anticipated!

 There were so many interesting landscaped settings

 and of course a VW van chicken coop!

 This France scene makes me want to travel!

 I love this wall planter! It's great how they are individual sections and can be arranged in any order. 

I would love this on the wall on my balcony!

 There were so many different orchids.

 There was this one small display of all types of terrariums and they were so pretty.

I think I'm going to have to make one soon for my dining table.

 There was a children's section where they could dig up veggies and plant flowers.

This owl board was so cute too.

 There was a little kitchen area where they could make their own mud pies.