the last couple days

i have to tell you that the past couple of days have sucked.  everyone in our house has felt the sadness of the death of our little Bamboo. 

on monday i awoke to find my eyes swollen to the size of a puffer fish from crying the entire day before.  JD didn't object to staying home and taking a personal day, which i greatly appreciated.  we all needed a day to spend together and try and move forward and that is just what we did.  we hung at home all day while the wind gusted outside and the rain poured down.

you might think it silly, but all of our pets have been affected.  Rainier cried all day sunday around the house and tried to guard Bam, growling at anyone who got near him, when we were trying to bury him.

later sunday, we tried to get out of the house for a little bit to think about something else and Baker had a puppy anxiety attack.  usually he is happy to have a cookie and his bed, and has no problem when we leave.  on sunday he started shaking and howling and doing anything to get us to stay.  he wouldn't even take his cookie.  we stood outside the house for several minutes to see if he would quiet down but he had himself too worked up.  we ended up having to go back in to help calm him down.

Ginkgo has been the worst.  he has been spending much more time with the family now that his brother is gone.  he takes turns sitting with us inside and going outside sitting on the porch just waiting for his brother to return home.  he hasn't attempted his usual wanderings of the neighborhood.  he just switches from inside time to sitting in the back yard waiting.  he has also mostly abandoned their sleeping spaces to sleep on our bed.  it just breaks my heart every time i see him sitting outside.  i can't imagine what he thinks.

to help complicate things both dogs got sick in the middle of the night on Monday.  JD was the most amazing husband, getting up multiple times to clean up the mess.  by morning Rainier was feeling better and ate her breakfast but Baker wouldn't eat and he wouldn't even take a cookie.

we left for work, worried about the possibility that maybe the dogs had gotten into what Boo had.  we ran home at lunch to find them both awake, but Baker now had some hives.  we let them out and gave them water.  Bake ate plenty of grass and we headed back to work.  when we got home last night Bake was feeling much better.  he ate a full dinner and the hives were gone.  he did get sick in the middle of the night last night as well, but only once, and he had an appetite this morning for breakfast as well as cookies.

JD, being the best husband thoroughly searched the yard (and the neighbors yards) last night for anything that that might have made all the pets sick.  he went through all the planting beds and along our fence and even crawled through the bamboo to find nothing. 

i wonder if they all might be responding to stress and anxiety.  they know i've been upset and maybe that is making them feel worse.  i don't know what it is but i am ready for things to settle down and get back to as normal as they can be this close to the death of a family member. 

thanks for all your emails and comments.  they are all greatly appreciated.
truly.. thank you.

Bamboo 2004 - 2010

Bamboo, (Bamboozler, Bam, Boo) 2004 - 2010

i hate, with all my heart to write this.  

i would love to tell you this isn't true, but i can't.  

this morning when Boo didn't show up for breakfast JD went looking for him and found him dead at the side of our house.   we're not sure what happened, he was just there, cold.  

we buried him in the back yard under the service berry tree.  i haven't stopped crying yet.  i loved that little cat with all my heart; we all did.  i don't know what Ginkgo is going to do.  we let the pups down into the yard so they could say their goodbyes.  Rainier smelled Boo and then started crying immediately.

Boo was a wonderful cat... and not just a cat our buddy. 

this picture is one of my favorites when we first got him and lived in the apartment... how i would love to hold him again.

we ran a few errands today and all i could hope for was that he was on the front porch when we got home.  he wasn't.

Boo and Ginkgo are litter mates, brothers.  they have always taken care of each other, now i just don't know what Gink is going to do.  I don't know what i'm going to do.  

A few things about our Boo:

Boo loved to drink water from the faucet.

He would brave getting in the shower with you for a drink of water.

Boo had a sensitive stomach and we bought special food just for him. 

Boo once jumped out our 4th story apartment window... and when we got home hours later he was sitting on the ground at the base of the apartment building meowing back and forth with Ginkgo who was in the window.

Boo loved cat nip.... he was crazy for it.  He would roll around in it and go wild.

Boo loved to sit behind the door in the bathroom, next to the heater.  If you left laundry there you were sure to find him all balled up asleep.  

Boo was our buddy, our friend, and he is greatly missed.  

He would have been 6 years old in June.

i wish with all my heart i could have him back.... 

i hope he is in a better place and one day i will get to see him again.  it wouldn't be heaven without him.

8506 - progress in the kitchen; open shelving

the kitchen progress continues.

we now have an inevitable time line for all our house projects - August 10th (otherwise known as my due date.) the other weekend JD and i sat down to make a list of all the little projects we want to complete before the baby gets here.

we came up with 35 projects.  some of them were huge too like - remodel the bathroom.  i have only 20 weeks to go, so that is more than on project a week.

the moral of this story is.... not everything is going to get done.  realistically, the majority of the list is not going to get done.  but we are going to do what we can and the kitchen is priority number 1.

with the trim around the window complete we were free to move onto the shelving.  first we laid out the shelving and brackets with removable chalk dust on the wall. 

while JD started installing the brackets, i unpacked the glassware we received for our wedding.  i have enough to open a restaurant!  all the glass ware received a good scrub and was ready for it's new home.

by the end of the evening the brackets had made their way onto the wall to await the shelving the next day.

changing body - my baby bump

i know i touched on the subject last week... but 

wow pregnancy.  

JD and i are so super excited for this new baby... what i didn't expect is how i would feel about this every changing body of mine. 

starting last weekend the baby apparently needed room, a lot more room. i awoke one morning to find much more belly then i went to bed with.  exciting right?  well, i sort of found it terrifying.  the shirts that fit just yesterday wouldn't button, the jeans i could zip somewhat were not budging, and i was finding all around dissatisfaction with my closet contents.  i think the worst part of it was that although my belly was growing it wasn't big enough to be an obvious baby belly and i thought i might be perceived by others as just have gained a whole lot of weight.

you might laugh at the thought of me, standing in front of my closet, on a the way to a baby shower, trying to find something slimming to wear.  however, at the time this new revelation coupled with a large influx of hormones didn't make for a particularly fun situation.

so to my rescue came JD... he not only helped me to find something to wear at that moment so we could leave the house, he promised to help me shop for some new clothes as well.

again, you would think the idea of shopping for a bunch of new clothes would be really exciting, but i found all the long shirts, and big panels intimidating and weird looking.  i mean who finds that stuff "cute" or fashionable? 

thursday, after work, i gave it my best try.  25 min into the shopping experience i found myself in a dressing room with a pair of full panel jeans on and a more forgivable cotton shirt.   i was unable to determine if this was what the clothing was to look like.  was this really me standing there in maternity clothes?  i really wasn't sure if this was what i wanted, so i stayed in the dressing room at least 15 minutes until JD got there.  when he got there, he came in, and with one little move everything changed.  without saying a word to me he came in and looked at me with a smile then looked down at my ever growing belly and put his hand on it.  i could see how happy that growing belly made him... and that made me realize how silly i was being.  (though, it didn't hurt that he told me i looked beautiful.)  he could see through my expanding size to that little baby safely growing inside.

from there we went to another store and this time, picking up those weird jeans and elongated tops was a lot easier.  i found a few things that even made me feel good about my growing bump. 

i have yet to fully embrace this new growing belly of mine, but we are becoming more acquainted on a daily basis.  i think each day that it becomes more apparent that this is a baby belly the better.  for now, i'll keep trying to love my growing form.  i'm sure that the ultra sound on monday will help me to remember just why it's poking out there so.

i found some really cute things... i share them later this week.

a quilt for my mom & dad

i have been quilting for about 2 years now.

even though i have tried all sorts of little projects, i had never tackled a full size quilt until this year.

i decided last fall that i wanted to make a quilt for my mom and dad for christmas.  i wanted to give them something that had a lot of meaning, time, and love put into it.  i worked with the colors my mom had already established within their bedroom and chose a complementary palette.  

i wanted a pattern that would fit within my parents' country home but had clean, modern lines at the same time.  for the pattern i chose the flock of triangles pattern from the denyse schmidt quilts book.

here are the final results.

i am so proud of my first queen size quilt and the way it turned out.  i truly loved the way it turned out.  i even signed and dated it on the back.  I hope they love it... because it really was a labor of love.

8506 - progress in the kitchen; window trim

the work on the kitchen continues.

the next step was putting in new shelving but the window needed to be trimmed before we knew where to place the shelving.

step 1.  remove paint debris on window.  years worth of messy trim painting left the window covered in the remains of the past trim colors.  JD took care of the mess with paint thinner which worked remarkably well.

step 2.  (this one you don't see) have all the trim ready to go... we are using fir and did 4 coats on all the trim.

step 3.  (and this one took all day)  install the trim.  we boxed out the sash and installed a deeper sill which will be nice for flowers in the summer.

step 4.  clean up

one little  piece at a time the kitchen is coming together... now onto laying out the shelves.

marination - i'm obsessed

i love marination....

while out and about in seattle we found this gourmet food truck

and it comes to my neighborhood on saturdays.

oh how i love thee.

they offer Hawaiian and Korean curb cuisine that is the bomb.  i really could eat here every saturday, but that might just get a bit insane.  i can't stay away from the beef tacos and JD loves their little pork sliders.  we keep thinking of trying all their other offerings but can't help but crave what we love.  they are always on the go so check out their web site and find their latest spot.

(dear people at marination if you want to send me coupons for free food.. bring it... i will preach your gospel) ha

the weekend

the weekend is good for:

going to the dog park.

as you can see Rainier tires before Baker who makes it his sole mission to run the entire time.

sewing baby quits for friends

this little quilt is for my friends, Jana and Kevin's baby boy... due to make an appearance in the next few weeks.  

and going to the movies

can't say it was my favorite... but the 3d coolness was entertaining.  

what the?

so this week has been quite something for many reasons.

1.  work has been a bear and by the time i get home, i eat dinner, watch some tv, and go to bed.  last night i sat at the computer with two camera on my lap intending to download last's weekends photos to share with you.  then i sat them back on the desk, put on my pj's and laid down on the couch.  sorry.

2.  i now have an indistinguishable baby belly.  the little bambino has decided to make quite an appearance.  i swear from saturday night to sunday afternoon my belly grew before my eyes.  last week i fit into this cute little button up shirt and on sunday there was no way i was getting those buttons buttoned.  i think that tonight i am going to try and shop for maternity clothes (which scares me).  this might sound crazy but the thought of buying clothes that look so big freaks me out completely.  Sat. night JD and i were out and walked past a maternity store, he offered to come inside and help me find a few things but i couldn't go over the threshold.  am i the only one here?  so tonight i will do my best to find a few things that will cover my ever growing bump.

3.  the pups have been crazy.  i don't know if there is something going on with the moon this week but the dogs have been off the hook.  baker has been so hyper, beyond his normal dog self.  there was a puddle of drool when we arrived home yesterday from where he sat and waited for us.  normally i wake him up when i come through the door.  rainier has caught the urge to spend all of her waking hours outside.  so no matter if you just returned home from an 1.5 long walk within minutes she is at the back door whining to go out again... ahhh thank god fencing in the back yard is high on the priories list.  this morning we let her out back only to see her sprint out front and down the street.  she is so lucky that A. i went to get her and not JD and B. that the car slowed down in time when she ran across the street. 

well i need to get back at it.  thankfully it is thursday which means only one more day of work before i can get some rest.... ahhhhh

handmade - baby shower gifts

baby gifts!!!

A good friend of mine had a beautiful baby girl a few weeks ago.  i thought i would share with you what i put together for their shower.  guest were asked to bring handmade, eco friendly products for the new baby girl which was a wonderful incentive to sew something up and make some purchase on etsy.

(like i would do anything else)

at the time of the shower we didn't know if the new baby was a boy or a girl.  what we did know were the nursery colors were curry and white... i took that and ran.  for the new little babe i whipped up a baby quilt that would work for warmth over the baby in the stroller or even for a make shift changing pad on the fly. 

i used white and curry fabric mixed with an adorable fish pattern that added pops of orange and red.  the pattern i laid out by eye and then extended the pattern and exaggerated it when quilting the blanket.

i loved (LOVED) how it turned out... a bit more free form than the other quilts i have made in the past and much more me.  it's hard to see here but i quilted the blanket with curry colored thread so it would be a subtle accent on the white fabric.

in addition to the quilt i picked up few other items on etsy. 

this super adorable little fawn teether has been a favorite of mine forever.  the etsy seller little alouette has quite a selection of organic wooden baby items which are to die for.  i am making a list of things i need from this shop for my little one on the way.  seriously, they have so many lovely things i don't know where to start.

 

for the last (but not least) part of my gift i purchased a little eames rocker t-shirt from tiny modernist.  my friend is a fellow architect and design junkie so i knew the little eames rocker wouldn't be lost on her.  the little t-shirt was absolutely adorable and worth every penny.  the new mommy loved it.

it was great to go to a handmade shower... now how to hint to others that i would like handmade things too!  (hmm maybe i just did)

a turning point; MEAT

 

last night was a huge turning point for me in this pregnancy

last night marked the first time since december (yes i said DECEMBER) that i could walk into the meat department at the grocery store.  for the past 4 months i would walk to the end of the isle cover my nose, divert my eyes,  and run into the next isle.  i didn't look or smell for fear that if i did, i would loose it in the grocery store. 

let's face it... no one wants to see a dry heaving person, pregnant or not, in the grocery store where they are shopping for dinner.  so, since december, JD has been our meat shopper and meet preparer.  once the meat started cooking i was fine for the most part.  to be completely honest, he really helped with food preparation for most of the first three months since my belly didn't really like food at all. 

so there i was last night, in the meat isle, standing with hamburger and chicken in my hand and then it came to me.... wait i have meat in my hands and i don't feel the need to run out of the store for fresh air!  yippie...

oh the little joys in life... i can buy meat again.  now if only i could pick up dog poop, then i could take the crazy dogs for a walk by myself again.  well maybe that isn't such a bad thing! 

this weekend - a walk on the trails

saturday morning we awoke to sunshine, which is a treat for a weekend morning the last day of February.  we decided to make the best out of it and took the pups for a walk in the trails by our house. 

rainier and baker led the way

it is so easy to forget how beautiful it is here when i've been sleeping the last few months away.  look at my good looking family on the hike.

the cute family

here's a picture of me and the bug, cleverly concealed within a growing belly bump out for a stroll.  i must say when we got home the bug and i did some resting on the couch while JD made a major house renovation push.  but i'll save that for later.

my ever growing belly bump from above

happy hump day all.