PSF: A New Table

I had a table when we got married.  I paid $50 for it plus 4 chairs when I was living in Seattle because I didn't know if I'd have to furnish my own place when I went to grad school.  Turns out I didn't, but I liked the table, it was from IKEA, and it was it pretty decent shape.

Brian has never liked the table.  I will give him that it's too short, he hits his knees.  But he's more afraid that it will break as it has a glass top.  And two of the chairs are missing slats out of the backs (see the picture below) because they are pretty flimsy and small and well, he isn't.  I wasn't a huge fan of blue chairs anyway, but hey, cheap is good!

So, we've been on the lookout for a new table for awhile, cruising second hand stores and garage sales and never finding anything worth replacing our table with.  There's a wood furniture store in town going out of business and we've bought things there before, they have quality furniture.  But whatever sleazy company they hired to do their "going out of business" sale is not marking anything down, but telling everyone who walks in "these are the retail prices, let us know what you're interested in and we'll tell you how much it is" and then quoting 30% off retail.  I don't know about you, but that's not a going out of business sale!  I think they're getting to keep a large portion of the profits.

Anyway, I didn't find anything in there I loved and that's a good thing as most of the tables were running over 2k, and that was at 30% off!  (we bought smaller things before!)

On Saturday I was out by myself for a couple hours and on the way home I stopped by a second hand store that's on our end of town.  I've been driving by for months intending to stop and instead have always had tired, hungry, or sleeping children in the car!

I walked through the store and saw this table and 6 chairs for $250.  I was NOT impressed with the chairs (they didn't match and were very sun bleached on the backs), but the guy working called his boss and said they could sell the table alone for $150.  I said I'd bring Brian back later, he loved it, and we are now the proud owners of a new table!

It came with 2 leaves too, although one of them is missing the side decorative pieces.  But I seriously doubt we will use even one leaf very often so it's not a big deal.  Plus, for that price, the table is awesome!

Now, I'm just counting every time Brian says "I love our table".  I think I'm up to at least a dozen! =)

And to find a set of chairs at the same type of price...




Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Things I Love: Mini Mioche (with Giveaway!)

At the moment life is pretty much kicking my butt.  My little guy wants to be with me 24/7 when he's not sleeping.  And my bigger little guy is kind of jealous.

However... it's hard to stay mad at this face for long!

And how cute is he in that outfit?  I love the color of the sweater! 

The whole outfit is compliments of mini mioche (mee-osh) a baby and toddler clothing company from Toronto, Canada.

Things I Love:

• mini mioche is committed to using 100% organic cotton
• their clothing is designed and made in Canada
• seamstresses are paid a living wage
• they are environmentally friendly in their dyes and packaging (no plastic)

mioche means "little one" in French.  I love how soft the fabric is and that all the tags are also made of soft fabric to not be scratchy for my little guy.  Lots of baby clothes are really cute, but sometimes we don't really care about what character is popular, we really care about the baby!  These clothes are simple and classic.  No one will look at these pictures in 20 years and see "dated" - well, other than maybe my style!

The clothing seems to hold up pretty well to a crawling baby and many washes.  However, I haven't put mine in the dryer because I'm afraid it might shrink (see below), but they dry quickly.  The cute boogie pants even fit over cloth diapers!

 

Things I didn't Love:  The only complaints I have are in the sizing and "season" of the clothes.  Noah is wearing 9 and 12 month clothing in most brands.  This outfit is sized as 12-18 months and it fits him now.  The sweater is even a bit small width wise, especially over the t-shirt.  However, everything is long enough which is rather amazing considering most other clothing isn't.

In terms of the season, unless you live where it's warm most of the year this is not a fall and winter outfit.  The super soft cotton is rather thin and definitely isn't warm enough for our weather, especially if you keep your house on the cool side in the winter.  It would be great in milder climates or seasons though.

***

How would you like to win an item of your choice from mini mioche?  You would?  Great!  All you need to do is visit their website and then come back and tell me which item you would pick if you won!

If you can't wait to get your hands on this cute clothing use the code MCFALL for 20% off your order through November 30th.

This giveaway will run until 11:59pm on November 30th.  Open to US and Canada.  Please make sure I have a way to contact you or I will pick another winner!  Winners will have 3 days to respond.


For more Things I Love Thursday visit Jill at The Diaper Diaries!

Disclosure: I am participating in a mini mioche ambassador program by Mom Central on behalf of mini mioche. I received an outfit as a thank you for my participation.  The opinions on this blog are always my own.

Wordless Wednesday: Fall

Taken at my parent's house this weekend, sadly we don't have as many pretty trees down here as they do.

Tackle It Tuesday: Purse!

So, I really should have a "before" picture of my purse to show you... but imagine a black and white patchwork rag quilt... that's not white anymore and is totally falling apart! The shoulder strap was about to wear through and that was my final motivation to get going on my new purse...

 

I bought this fabric over a year ago from an etsy shop and it's been sitting, sitting, just waiting for me to make time.

Now it wasn't making time, it was a necessity!

I learned I would do a few things differently when making another one, but overall it was a pretty simple project (with thanks to my friend Katie for her advice!) and it turned out well!

Now, since I'm not completely keen on the color scheme (why did I think I would like chocolate and aqua when I never wear those colors???) I guess I'd better find some new fabric so it can sit around for another year or more before I make a new one!  At least it won't be falling off my body anytime soon!

And no, it's not my camera, my walls really are that funky yellow/cream color.  Painting is still on my to-do list!

Things I Love: Moody Sisters

My friend Whitney and her sister recently created their own line of skin care products.  Whitney sells Mary Kay, but even that caused her skin to break out so she wanted to come up with something all natural... and she has!

Introducing... Moody Sisters! (Which I think is a fabulous fun name!)

After some conversations we discovered that they needed product photos, which I got to take!  So all the images below are mine, I had a super fun time taking them and learning lots in the process.  Now, I just can't wait for their shop to officially be open!

They have 12 products and the ones I want to try immediately are listed below:

Powder Deodorant

I know it might seem kind of nasty to have to use your fingers, but really, you've just gotten out of the shower (I hope!) and have you looked at the chemicals in your deodorant lately???  (Whoops, edited to add: The deodorant actually comes with a little applicator puff!  So really no excuses now! :) I've actually seen a similar recipe floating around the internet and discussed this with another friend.  I hear it works really well.  Can't wait to try this one!

Nourishing Body Lotion
 

I have really been looking for lotions that don't have phthalates, PVC, parabens, and all kinds of other chemicals.  You can find them at the health food stores, but they are usually way more expensive than this.  Plus you can pick your scent; lemon, spicy orange, almond, lavender, or mint.  All of them sound great to me (well, other than lavender because it gives me a headache in any form).

With two small boys and a small bathtub I rarely take a bath, but I just loved how this photo turned out!  I stole all the petals off one of my roses and just played around until I liked how it looked!  So fun!

Whitney has generously offered a 20% discount to all of my readers!  Just head on over to her etsy shop and check out all the great products she has! (use code 20MARRIEDLIFE in comments to seller - good until November 1st and may not be combined with any other offer)

You can also like Moody Sisters on Facebook to stay in the loop! 

Happy shopping!


For more Things I Love Thursday visit The Diaper Diaries!

Wordless Wednesday: Guys Night

What happens when you have 5 guys over for 4 hours to play games... and Brian only drank 2 of them.  Ew!

7 Months

Sunday made our little guy seven months old.  Only he's not acting so little anymore!

Noah has 8 teeth now and is possibly getting his upper eye teeth as well.  He is completely mobile, even crawling over the wall of pillows in the living room that had contained him... for about a week!

He pulls up on everything faster than you think he can.  He's also starting to cruise along the furniture... The only thing we need to work on now is getting distracted, letting go, and falling over.  Gravity is a monster!  I'm hoping he doesn't end up with a concussion from all the falling.  Grandma and Grandpa, are you ready for a walker by Christmas???

On the eating front he's finally gone back to sleeping more than 3 hours at a time at night.  So, I get in a 5 hour stretch which helps... But he's still basically refusing to eat any baby cereal.  The doctor says he's fine with only nursing up to a year, but his Mama would really like it if he could eat something else once in awhile!

Noah really likes to take baths and sit and splash in the water.  He doesn't quite have the balance yet and would rather roll over onto his tummy so you can bet I don't turn away for a second.  Tonight he was standing outside the tub trying to splash while Cory was in the bath.  They were laughing - or in Noah's case, shrieking - at each other!

Noah is completely a Mama's boy and wants to be held all the time.  But it's pretty hard to be upset with this face!  The smiles are amazing!

Cory in the Pumpkin Patch

Auntie Kelly was driving the horse wagon at our local pumpkin patch on Saturday so Daddy and Cory went to ride and get pumpkins.

Daddy's turn to take pictures of Cory...

Boy Quotes #5

"Tonight I'm being sillious.  That's silly and curious!"

While I'm play "eating" my son and I say he tastes good he says, "Nooooo, I taste like a waffle!  A burnt waffle!"  So apparently we know what is a bad thing to eat in our house!  Not that I ever remember burning the waffles...

Wordless Wednesday: Free

A lone chair sitting in the yard of the house next to the yard sale...  or... some days, the way I feel.

Cider Press

Saturday we went to the annual cider press that our dentist hosts. Yes, we are from a small town. His kids were in my mom's class, too!   I'm not sure how many years he's been doing this now, but I know at least since I was in college, probably close to 10 years.

The man himself - manning the BBQ

Most people show up early, but we live rather far away now (and have 2 small boys) so we didn't get there until it was well under way.  However it was probably better this way because then Brian could provide some fresh energy to the old fashioned cider press!

This is a real old press, something like 100 years old.  There is also an electric press just behind it that gets used.

Dumping all the apple pulp - makes for great compost!

Drink break - fresh pressed cider, yum!

Everyone gets in on the action... the kids love to help get the apples out of the bins and put them in buckets to be dumped in the presses.

Sometimes they have to dive to get the apples once the bins are half empty...

Victory!!!  

And Cory protecting her from the pirates with stick in hand...

This year they did a record 5 bins of apples and 1 of pears to make 314 gallons of juice!  Every gallon has some apple in it, then some (or most, this year) have pear as well, and someone brought blackberries to add so every family got to take home one gallon of apple berry juice as well!

After it's all said and done we have a huge potluck lunch, the driveway gets thoroughly hosed down (there is sticky apple juice on everything) and we all take home 10 gallons of super yummy apple cider! 
Welcome to Fall!

Mommy, I'm So Proud!

I sort of feel the need to apologize, like this has become the all baby blog, all the time.  However, every day I am amazed by how fast my baby is learning to get around!  (yet still refusing to eat ANY solid food, 3am, I despise thee)

So today I present: The Standing Noah

First he's mastered the knees...

(and I literally just lowered the crib mattress about 15 minutes before this)

One knee forward...

The other knee forward...

Now just pull yourself up to your feet!

I'm so proud of myself Mommy!

He's now also mastered pulling up on the couch.  Hasn't quite figured out that once he stands up he still has to keep holding on... but I'm sure the balance will come quickly.  Much too quickly for me considering he's still a week and a half shy of 7 months!  
Last Friday we finally got to the 6 month doctor's appointment to find that he's completely normal and measuring 27 inches and 18 3/4 pounds.
Slow down kid!

Wordless Wednesday: Air Show

This past Saturday was the annual aviation days at our local airport that we've gone to in the past as well.  This year we finally got to see this experimental plane fly.  It looks like some kind of UFO with the propeller in the back and tri shaped wings.  When it came in we went to see it and Cory wanted to look in.  The pilot just picked him up and let him sit in it!  Oh, the advantages of being a kid!  It was also the first year where we didn't leave shivering.  Super nice weather we're having for the first week of October!

Be the Church

Yesterday was a special day for our church... we didn't have church.  Instead we went out into the community and did a bunch of work.  Well, most people worked.  I had a hard time with that since I had Noah strapped to me so I was the official photographer for my group.  We went to a local pioneer museum that was having a celebration with live people acting things out.  Our job was to escort some folks from a local assisted living home who wanted to visit and just be with them.
I had never actually been to this museum either and was pretty impressed by their Pioneer Village outside!

Panning for gold

There were a lot of old pieces of machinery and transportation vehicles

Learning how an old scythe actually worked from a man who used one!

Coffee break!

Every time I saw this guy he was talking to the couple with him.  I'm glad we had the chance to go and be friends with them even for a couple hours.

A very shiny old car.

After everyone completed their projects we all met back at church for hotdogs and a celebration - mostly for the kids!  Brian and Cory had been painting over graffiti (although Cory got more paint on himself than the walls...) and other groups were doing all kinds of things from sorting coats for donation to spreading new bark at elementary playgrounds.  Interestingly I had seen a HUGE pile of bark by a playground this week and didn't realize it was connected... until my friend Lindsay got back super late (they almost didn't get lunch) and said they had been working there... 80 yards of bark!

Face painting

Balloon clowns (who made over 1,000 for the kids!)

Ring toss

Boys who actually did some work!

My husband who is just a big goofy kid himself...

wanted the Linux penguin!

Best picture of the whole day!

It was a very fun day and many of us liked both working for others and the picnic afterwards where we had a lot more time to just be with friends.  We need more of these events!