Ivy's Here!

Luke and I just got home from a super-fun getaway while Grandma watched the kids. We headed down to the Seton Southwest Resort and Spa at 1826 and 71. I present to you:

5 Reasons to take a Three-Day Vacation to the Hospital

5. The people at the hospital are so cheerful and confident, it will start to rub off on you, too! They'll tell you something momentous and life-altering will happen by noon, and by golly you'll believe them. And when it hasn't come by four, but still they doggedly confirm that yes! something truly special is just about to happen, you will still believe them. They're just that confident. When this miracle of miracles does in fact happen around six-ish, they'll smile so confidently in a way that shows they knew it all along.

4. If at some point your blood pressure drops abnormally they'll give you a neat-o drug called Ephedrine. It's just like having "six cups of coffee"! For someone who's never had one cup of coffee, its also like sticking two wet butter knives into an electrical socket.


3. Unlimited snacks! Sure, there's Gatorade and cookies, hot chocolate and jello, but don't forget why you came: Prune juice and sugar-free chocolate pudding. Speaking of food, there are more cheerful, confident people there who will bring you trays and trays of food labelled "High Fiber." Of course, you didn't even have to ask to be brought these. They just know this is exactly the kind of spinachy-beany-brown ricey food that you will love. Mmmm.


2. At the hospital they're are fun little machines and monitors with colored, flashing buttons. You'll be excited to explore, so go ahead, push some of those buttons. Just see what happens next! Maybe you'll find the button called "Nurse Call." You might find out that this single button does nothing at all. This might lead to a fun game for your husband where he gets to run out into the hall yelling "Nurse!" and then lots of people run after him and the first one to catch a baby wins!

And finally, the best reason to take a three-day vacation to the hospital:
1. They'll let you take one of these home as a souvenir!

Welcome Ivy Rose!

8 lbs, 11 oz

Black hair and dimples!

The Mermaids

These costumes have been on my list for a while. Last Halloween, oh wait, sorry, TWO HALLOWEENS AGO I saw this blog post at Heather Bailey's site. I thought her interpretation of the Mermaid costume was genius: modest (read: no seashells), and a full skirt that doesn't impede movement. Of course, she just whipped hers out of her head. I had to ransack my pattern bins (oh, all you poor sweet dresses that will never be made) and schlep together something out of these two:

Plus a lot of ruffles around the arms and waist when it still seemed like they were hardly covered ("See girls, it's like you're swimming in the water."). I also added a bracelet to help hold up the tail, but when the little one wouldn't wear hers I whipped on an extra hook and wrapped her tail behind her. Around the time I finished the first bodice, I realized Ariel had ditched Prince Eric and was now pursuing a career as a majorette/figure skater/flamenco dancer ("so there is such a thing as too many sequins"). But hey, at least she's pretty.

And for the finishing touch, Seashell Bags for all the loot! Happy Halloween and whew!

Birthday Present

It was a great birthday today! And what a surprise, I got a gift and a letter from none other than best-selling author of the Twilight series: Stephenie Meyer! I bet you guys didn't know I was friends with her. It was a little strange that the letter wasn't stamped or addressed (maybe she's in town?) and the handwriting looked exactly like my husband's...

Luke likes to write me messages from famous people on special occasions (I've had them from the casts of Lost and Alias and many personal notes from Santa over the years). It just shows you what an odd and sweet kind of guy he is. Here's what I got this time:

Dear Katie,
I wanted you to know how much I appreciate your loyalty as a fan. I understand that you are not only devoted to my work but also closely follow my recommendations! Your husband tells me that you are even entertained at times by my praise for other books, as with The Hunger Games. What an honor!

(Luke is teasing me here because I told him twice in one night about her review of Hunger Games: "I was so obsessed with this book I had to take it with me out to dinner and hide it under the edge of the table so I wouldn't have to stop reading. The story kept me up for several nights in a row, because even after I was finished. I just lay in bed wide awake thinking about it..." I only meant to compare how I also get quite anti-social for the sake of books, but he apparently thought I was just being redundant.)

I understand that it is your 27th birthday today. I hope you enjoy it! Perhaps you could celebrate by going to the movies to view New Moon! I know that you were critical of the 1st cinematic installment (to my chagrin), but I think you will be more pleased with this one. Please give it a shot – no need to invite your husband.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! You always look great in my opinion, but I know it’s always nice to have some extra clothes. Please accept the enclosed donation to that end. It may not seem like much coming from a multi-millionaire, but I hope that it will bring a little extra joy to your day.

Sincerely,
Stephenie Meyer

Silhouettes

I've been wanting to do this project for a while. I bought these frames with this in mind two years ago (which makes me think I must already have an "eternal perspective", at least when it comes to the urgency/non-urgency of getting things done). When I first starting doing silhouettes I would trace photos by hand, scan that into the computer, clean up the image in Paint, and then print. This time I downloaded a free trial of Adobe Illustrator, imported my images to that program and did the whole thing on the computer. Then I printed my silhouettes on scrapbooking paper. Illustrator is the program I used all through college. It's good but infuriatingly non-user friendly, or at least it feels that way for the girl who's forgotten everything she ever knew about it. There were two nights of banging my head on the screen, but eventually I re-learned the "pen tool."

12 Pairs

Well, Halloween is coming and I'm excited to make some fabulous costumes this year! But first I had to make room in the closet for more fabric. I went a little flannel-happy last year at the day after Thanksgiving sales. I made 8 pairs out of what I bought then...and there was still a huge toppling mountain left over. And in addition to the flannel, I had some summer weight fabric in my stash (I was supposed to make summer play dresses, but I guess that ship has sailed) so I added that to the mix, and I ended up with 12 PAIRS OF PAJAMA PANTS!

And another girl on the way.

Am I going to be making 18 pairs next year?

My Kitchen!

Here's what I've been working on for the last month or so. A kitchen overhaul, or maybe underhaul since it was really just paint and tile, but in any case Improvement.

Here's where we are now. I'm still thinking about adding hardware, and hey maybe I should paint the walls, but you get the picture. And I love it. Really, my life is so much better these days.

Here's where it all began. Sigh.

Step 1 along the way.

I decided to add some decorative trim (the lighter wood) to our sad, honey oak, plain-Jane cabinets. I'm so glad I did. I love the way it turned out. Plus, it was great practice with my miter saw. I think I'm in a much better position to do crown molding now. My precision has definitely improved.

But ugh! Why are there so many?! Seriously, our kitchen is the size of a lot of my friends' closets, but with every step of this process there seemed to be more cabinet doors. I've never been so glad to live in a tiny house than when it was 4 a.m. (and yet still 95 degrees in the garage) and I was just barely putting on the last piece of trim to the 18th cabinet door. More is not always better, believe me.

Oh yeah, there were these, too.

KILZ is the best primer in the world. I love it. The way it can cover up water stains, oil stains, whatever! is amazing. I think with careful planning and a lot of patience you could probably make a boat out of this stuff.

I love this little shelf I got at Pottery Barn. So simple, but so perfect in the way it puts salt and pepper exactly where a 5'4'' person can reach them.

The tile is Crema Marfil (3x6) and I got it at The Tile Guy here in Austin. It was a great store, big selection, and decent prices. But come on! Couldn't someone there have told me to seal the tile before I grouted it? They asked me twelve times if I was installing it myself! I didn't know it was an issue, but the tiles just sucked up that grout like a sponge. It wouldn't wash off! It took Luke and I three hours, two sanding sponges, and a chisel to get the grout off the face of the tile. A lot of the tile got stained, but oh well, it just looks "distressed" now.

I rented this wet saw from Sunbelt Rentals. Really nice people. The saw cut through my tiles like warm butter. Plus, the water splashing from the basin had a lovely cooling effect.

This was a fantastic tip from my mother-in-law. If you use a little wood glue and toothpicks, you can reuse the same screw holes when you're all done. That means no marking or measuring when you reinstall the cabinet doors. When the glue is dry you break off the toothpick and sand it down flat. Thank you, thank you. This was such a time-saver.

And here's another look. Thank you Luke for taking the kids down to Houston for the week so I could get this done!

Pop-Up Princesses

I saw this project over at Ikat Bag and I thought it would be perfect for my girls. The princesses pop out of the castle whenever it's time to play, or when a suitable prince shows up. The peek-a-boo factor was a big hit with my youngest and the overall fanciness of this make-believe was great for my oldest.

But my girls were a little young for this. It turned into a lot of them sitting around eating crackers, and occasionally making important decisions as to hair/dress/castle colors, and then me scurrying off to execute those decisions before the little one had a total meltdown. It would have been great to have another pair of hands that were competant with scissors and glue. If we do it again I'll pre-cut everything.

We made a few modifications from the instructions I found. We used wooden heads and dowels instead of straws and foam cut-outs. Good thing since the pricesses were quickly cast as wicked stepsisters and knocked around in deserved punishment.

The fairy godmother I made went skirt-side out, upside-down and was recast as a feather duster. I wasn't gonna complain about that.

I found the instructions and great photos for this project here.