Wednesday, February 29

random ramblings: debatable buzz edition

 just kids bein' kids...before the days of facebook.
amy and juls 2001 & 2002

one of my oldest friends, amy, posted on facebook today about a hot topic on "the view" -- snooping on your kids. the discussion was about monitoring their comuputer usage, reading their texts, etc.  here is my rant that i posted in regards to the post.

I don't think it is necessary for any child who isn't of driving age to have a cell phone. If we (the parents) decide that they need a cell phone before that age then it will be one of those that can only dial like 4 numbers...no texting.

As far as computer usage and accounts...I'm going to have to go with full parental access until 17 (yes, I randomly pulled that number out of my bum). The internet is just not a safe place and that is really all there is to it. Kids are kids and they don't always think things through. They are always going to be a little naive and impulsive. They believe they are invincible so going to meet up with that cute guy/gal they met on the internet sounds like a good idea. Also, with all the cyber-bullying nowadays it's nice to have that access as a parent.
I would never read my child's personal journal. You want to go old school with your pen and paper? I will respect that. Not much trouble can come from the people you meet in your own head.
I don't believe in snooping on your children unless it becomes an urgent/emergency/life or death situation. They would know full well where we stand on the issues of all of these things. I grew up in a house with very open communication and I really feel that is the only way to go. Now if I can just figure out the keys to making sure my child feels the same way...

While I'm on my rant...kids are kids and they need to maintain that. Our society moves so fast and our children are pressured to grow up before they can really enjoy being a kid. I'm sure they will not like that I don't allow all-you-can-play-video-gaming, unlimited texting, or no make-up until you are (enter random age here) but as a parent I want them to enjoy and cherish every moment of not feeling stressed and pressured.

As I'm typing this I'm really starting to stress about what I'm in for here.....only 7 more weeks until I embark on the wonderful journey of parenthood.

what about you? what are your thoughts on this topic? are you a parent of a tween or teen? how do you handle it? are you kids all grown now? what are some of your suggestions for maintaining an open line of communication with your children and making sure they are comfortable coming to you with anything?

Tuesday, February 28

a giveaway

 

about a year ago i set up a little design side project called owl good studios. this project came about because the job i was working at the time would not allow you to have any other job--whatsoever. so, i came up with a different name to work under. 

owl good studios is your one stop creative shop -- graphics, printed goods, interiors, i even dabble in some photography. and i use dabble very loosely, i am in know way a real photographer.

with all the life changing events that have been going on over the past year or so, my poor little pet project hasn't been very loved. but i'm really hoping to focus on growing it over the next couple of years! so, with that being said i'm attempting my first giveaway/mini-contest! 

we are currently at 82 "likes" on the old facebook page. if we can get to 100 by march 1st we will give away a set of personalized note cards! what are you waiting for? get over to owl good studios facebook page, hit like and help us reach our goal for the giveaway!

here are some examples of printed goods and a couple of photos:



i would love your support!  happy tuesday!

Monday, February 27

our weekend in 4


this weekend i really tried to do much of nothing. it kind of worked.  we will basically be insanely busy every weekend until the baby comes so i really wanted to soak in the laziness, and apparently laziness doesn't make for great photos. but here is what we did...

1. num. num. num. saturday morning my awesome mom took me out to breakfast at this little french dessert salon and cafe in dotoro (downtown rogers) and then we hit up the mall to do some shopping for my birthday! it was a much needed break from the real world. oh, and those would be cornmeal pancakes with honey butter and nutella....yeah, you might need to wipe that drool off of your keyboard now.

2 & 3. this is hog baseball. and more specifically this is baby petree's first hog baseball game. it was such a great afternoon with friends at the ballpark. perfect weather. hogs won. and any time spent with "the crew" is guaranteed fun.

4. husband and ponca do some gardening. most of sunday was spent doing laundry and other mundane household chores.(it's a glamorous life i know) husband likes spicy things...no. no, husband loves spicy things. so this year husband will be growing the hottest peppers in the world. i'm not sure i see this ending well.

so another weekend pre-baby can be marked off the calendar. it's getting so close! we start our 4 week "prepared childbirth" class this week and then the showers and the final push to ready the house are not too far away

how did you spend your weekend?

Thursday, February 23

i should never have gotten out of bed


i really was going to do a nice design thursday post today...but then i got out of bed. and pretty much everything went downhill from there.

so that picture right there is of me trying to show you the giant hole in my pants -- that i didn't discover until i got to work. yeah, that's always a fun discovery. especially when you have a lunch meeting to go to. oh, and it's the only pair of work pants you fit into.

oh, and then i go to the lunch meeting only to get out of my car and immediately drop my phone under the car parked next to me. i then proceed to get my 8 months pregnant butt down on the ground, lay on my side, and reach frantically to try and grab my phone. praying i'm not squashing baby petree too much. this was not a pretty site folks. especially with my polka dot underoos on full display through the aforementioned hole in the bum of my pants.

the worst part is that people are walking by me the whole time this is going on. really? you just walk by when you see a very pregnant lady laying on the ground? i'm very concerned about our society today.

but on the bright side it is thursday. which means tomorrow is friday. thank goodness. and now that i have vented, and shown the general public my bum, i feel much better.

Wednesday, February 22

serious question

has a baby ever actually punched through its mother's abdomen...because i'm pretty sure this little girl is right about there.

we had our 31 week doctor visit last friday and everything is right on track! 26 pounds gained and measuring exactly at 31. sidenote: i bought a dress at 28 weeks and i couldn't fit in it when i went to get dressed this morning... that was fun.

sorry for the terrible iphone pic...we have been so busy we haven't had time to take any with the regular camera.

Monday, February 20

husband


i love you more than anything. more than ever. more than words.

thank you for reminding me my blog needed some lovin'.

Tuesday, February 14

happy valentine's day


I received this text from husband today. it made my entire day. thank you, husband, for always brightening my days and for filling my life with more love and happiness than i ever thought possible.

{note: the picture was edited to keep baby petree's name a secret until she arrives! and to keep husband from being embarrassed by one of his nicknames.}

Thursday, February 9

DIY: Jewelry Board


i don't know about all y'all (oh yes, i just typed that) but i own a fair amount of jewelry. yet, i'm not really sure what i own because it has lived in a giant tangled mess, in a giant cardboard box over the last several (ahem, 5, ahem) years. it's not like i haven't wanted to something with it. i've just never really been sure what to do. i definitely wasn't going out to buy a giant jewelry armoir. and my two jewelry boxes were not enough. so, when husband inherited some lovely peg board a while back i started formulating a plan. 

the plan originally consisted of spray painting a lovely stencil on the pegboard, but it still looked like, well, like pegboard. and that in my bedroom? i think not. so i was back to square one. 

this past weekend we worked in our bedroom instead of in the nursery. we got curtains put up, a new laundry hamper and a dresser moved to make room for the co-sleeper. and then i looked down and the giant cardboard box, we shall call him seymore, was looking up at me. i informed seymore that we had had a good run of it, but that it was time to part.

i had recently seen this big corkboard in a magazine and fallen in love with it. i did not however fall in love with the price of it.


with that as my inspiration i set out to make my own for $50 or less.

i -- perhaps i'll start saying we since husband was a very integral part in this project -- we started with the plain old peg board. isn't she a beaut!


then we used some industrial strength adhesive to glue the cork on the board. husband doesn't mess around with his adhesives!


after letting the adhesive cure, we covered the board in duck cloth. i cut the cloth down to size.

 
then we stapled it with the staple gun. yes, i know you didn't get to see the fun stapling process, but i would hold the fabric tight and husband would staple. it took all of our hands. 

after that we flipped the board over and stuck the furniture tacks around the edges. what? no pictures? no, i was too busy being incredibly picky about the spacing of the tacks to pick up the camera. then it all went out the window 'cause i was tired of standing.  so, what you will want to do is space out your tacks, then come back with a hammer and tap them into the board.

after we stuck the tacks around the edges we secured a heavy duty picture wire to the back for hanging it on the wall.


after that we hung it on the wall and i used some more furniture tacks to start hanging my necklaces. 


and there you have it, folks! that's it. it's that easy. i haven't made it completely through seymore yet, but i'm working on it.

Wednesday, February 8

my face

before labor & delivery class

after labor & delivery class

 the morning after labor & delivery class

ok, not really but it was an interesting class. and i really didn't get a wink of sleep last night. husband was nice enough-- or my banging around in the kitchen looking for snacks was nice enough --to wake up at 2:30 am to chat with me too. isn't he the best! here is hoping that breast feeding class goes better tomorrow night. oh! and DIY Design Thursday is tomorrow! happy wednesday!

Monday, February 6

our weekend in 5



1. a lazy morning with a toasted onion bagel with onion & chive shmear and some coffee. why can't every morning be like that?

2. husband treated me to my first mani & pedi since i found out i was pregnant. yes, i waited this long. i'm only slightly paranoid about fumes and staff infections.

3.saturday night we celebrated my friend amanda's birthday. it was a great time...until the heartburn and the backaches hit. i'm just a giant ball of fun!

4. our windows now have accessories! we got new curtains and i must say, i didn't know what pur room was missing until we hung those bad boys up.

5. a little peek at a DIY Design Thursday project!


Happy Monday!

Wednesday, February 1

random ramblings




 
dress: old navy; boots: nine west; socks: kohl's 
--it's the first day of february and the high is supposed to be around 63 today. (that's right, i'm doing weather shtick today) i have decided that if i'm not going to get my precious snow days then i'm ready for winter to be over and the temps to be like this everyday.

--i read a little article on katherine heigl's rant about the show dance moms. i hadn't seen the show before so i immediately had to check it out since it was apparently the worst ever. wow! she wasn't kidding! that show and the people in it are so far off their rockers and out of touch with reality that it isn't even funny. and the poor kids! isn't anybody thinking about these poor children? no, b/c as long as the moms get their drama and part of the spotlight then all is right in their world. it's messed up people.

--what is up with pregnancy dreams? can i just tell you a little about one i had? you might want to get a good cuppa and curl up for this one. ok, so i dreamed that i went to the doctor and he informed me i wasn't pregnant, but rather i had a giant tumor. he then cut me open, while i was awake, and inside the tumor was a litter of kittens. the doctor looked at me and said, "oh, ok. i know what is going on now. have you eaten chinese food lately? sometimes they cook with cat food and your body then produces a litter of kittens to eat it." -- ok, seriously? how weird is that?