malisonian

going to the dentist is bunk

i really hate going to the dentist. it's downtown near corey's work and it's always a hassle for me to wrangle esmond and get there and park on time. last time we went the dr. recommended that we get a sonicare because the time before that i had to have 3 fillings. we got the toothbrush from costco along with a costco sized pack of floss. when we went in yesterday i WAS SURE that they would be SO IMPRESSED with my oral hygiene. after they took some fancy digital xrays the hygienist said "wow your gums and teeth look great!! much better than last time." of course after the doctor looks at the xrays she's all "here's a cavity, here's a cavity...." and i have 5-6 CAVITIES THAT NEED FILLINGS. i am really, really bummed out.

so, anyway.
we got a new (used) mac. i am sort of excited. the other computer we had was about 5 years old, which both seems like a long time but doesn't seem like a long time. the computer we got is a couple years old, but was "top of the line" when it came out. plus, the dvd and cd drives open!! our other ones were broken so we could only download movies off itunes, which was fine by me. esmond knew that they opened and always wanted to put cd's in them.

my shoes came in the mail today (!!!!!) and i am so excited to wear them. after baby wakes up we will probably go on a nap. i mean walk. i must have sleeping on the brain!

what the hell, it's march, or i want to sew some clothes!

so, those converse mary janes i was freaking out about? i won the ebay auction last night. yea!!!!!!!!!!! now i can stop wringing my hands about it and continue on with my life.

excecpt.............
now i want to sew some shirts.
here is a gallery i made on flickr of some awesome looking shirts/dresses. i wish there was some way of embedding the gallery on here but whatever.
here are the patterns that i am thinking about

simplicity 2922 here is a picture of a top that is amazing

built by wendy simplicity 3692

i have convinced myself that i NEED to have this in some form of stripes and then my life will be perfect. striped grey/white or black/white or navy/white or grey with thin navy stripes............

and also built by wendy simplicity 3835
i sewed this shirt way back when boo boo was a teeny beebee. like around 2 months old or something, which seems crazy now. not sure how i managed to find time for sewing a shirt, except that it was pretty fast and easy. and also, boo boo wasn't old enough to climb on the table.
anyway, i like this shirt and wear it often but the fabric texture grosses me out (not cotton) and so i'd like to make more.
MORE MORE MORE!!!

i like how the pattern and the fabric hide wrinkles and my sloppy sewing job.

esmond is taking is nap early which is great, except the girl upstairs moved out and they are doing something upstairs that is LOUD and i'm just waiting for boopers to wake up. he did a minute ago and managed to go back to sleep even with their hammering and dropping of loud i-don't-know-whats on the ground. i cranked up the air purifier and maybe that will help. WHO KNOWS.

i'm contemplating taking esmond on a bus ride after nap and lunch to the fabric store. he's been a pain to get into his carseat lately and he loves the bus. so we'll see!

shoe problems.

why am i obsessed with birkenstocks? i don't know. but i got my first pair in 6th grade. those ones are long gone. they got pretty worn out. i got another pair in highschool. senior year i think. for my birthday. they were black sandals with thick criss crossed straps. i still have them and wear them in the summer, but the straps aren't adjustable (so i couldn't wear them when i was pregs)
the year after that i got a pair of RED birki clogs.

i still wear them a lot.
a few years later on my "first date" with corey i got a pair of black leather london's.

i like these a lot but don't wear them as much. the sole is wearing out on the back but they leather is hardly worn at all. my roommate had a pair of really nicely worn out brown ones and i kinda wished i had gotten that color instead. i should get them re-soled sometime.
this summer i bought some red madrid's on ebay.

(mine are much cooler than these. they have a white sole and the leather is textured)
first i bought a pair of the white ibiza style. they straps were very comfortable but they were a size narrow and just a little two small.
this summer i want a pair of sparta or gizeh.

so, the whole reason i am getting all ansty about birkenstocks is because i can't stop thinking about the old shop and save in marysville. we used to go there after school ALL THE TIME and buy all sorts of stuff. it was so cheap. one time i found of pair of really nice birkentocks either the gizeh or sparta style (they were thongs and went between the toes) and i hid them under a pile of sheets so i could buy them later. they must have been more than five doll-hairs or something and that is why i needed to come back later to buy them. so, when i came back and looked under the sheets they were GONE!!!!!! so now, like more then 10 years later it is haunting me. seriously. i have been loosing sleep over this memory.

oh, and something else that keeps me up at night.
these converse maryjanes that i bought in san francisco almost 3 years ago:

these were super mega comfortable. i bought them at the macy's and then the next day we walked 11 miles around san fran and my feet only started to hurt at mile 8. i wore them to work and they were always comfortable. i miss them and want another pair.

*i'm only blogging about these shoe issues that i'm having because i think about it all the time when i'm trying to sleep at night. there is a pair of the mary janes on ebay right now and if i don't win them i will probably bite my pillow and be really upset.

tired days

i feel like i'm getting into the cycle of sleepless nights and exhaustimalated days.
for example: all of yesterday i was tired. i even took a nap with buster and i don't know how long it lasted but i was still tired when i woke up. then at night i couldn't sleep. i kept fretting over taking buster to the dr. in the morning for shots. and then i kept thinking about other stuff, like going to the zoo and seeing people that are familiar because i met them before but not wanting to talk to them because when i did meet them before they were kinda bitchy and uninterested. (hurumph.)
so when i finally DO sleep it's not a restful sleep because i'm tossing and turning and adjusting my lumpy pillow and rearranging my blanket. THEN, at some point in the very early morning (3-5 am-ish) buster wakes up to nurse and it takes forever and i can't fall back asleep. AND AFTER THAT, i somehow manage to think myself asleep and have nightmares about buster crapping all over the carpet and not being able to clean it up.

so yeah. this morning we had to hoof it to the dr. and we both had to wake up before we normally would so then i had to get a coffee and buster remembered the dr's office as soon as we went in and was crying. he had nursed for a long time after to gather his composure and then we left and went to the goodwill. i got a sweet vintage fair isle sweater and buster got a dump truck toy. i guess that makes it okay. except that i feel tired but can't nap with him because i will just lay there awake.

in other news i feel like getting my elastic waist jeans out because i feel dumpy. i am always walking past the sweat pants area at target and thinking 'OOOOOOOOOH, those look comfortable!!'. i wonder how many stretch pants is TOO MANY stretch pants for one person?
i see a lot of people walking around in nice yoga pants and wish that i could do that too. i just really really really don't want to wear "sloppy clothes" in public though. which reminds me. i would like to join the wardrobe_remix group on flickr or maybe 100% thrifted it would for sure motivate me to wear my nicer clothes....

giant soft poof for a baby.

i got this bookcusions, quilts, and throws from the library a while ago. towards the back is a picture of a giant bean-bag-y like thing for a kid. it looked like a bigger version of the little soft poofs i made a while ago for boo boo to play with.
i thought this would be easy enough to do with esmond around.

so i got out the sewing machine and sure enough, esmond was climbing on the table to be close to it and make sound effects.

and then the cat got involved.

anyway, it's really easy to make a giant poof like this. first, cut a giant square-y rectangl-y thing out. pretend like you're going to sew a pillow! sew two sides and leave the third completely open.

find some other pillows that you don't like and take the stuffing out. i was going to use some old bed pillows but when i went to look for them they were gone. i forgot i gave them to the goodwill!!! oh well, i had some pillow forms layin around so i used those. don't stuff it too full though or it will be hard to sew!

next, pin the open side together in the opposite direction . it will probably be hard to pin with the stuffing.

now sew it shut. this was a little harder than it needed to be because the poof is all giant and weird shaped. so i did a terrible job of stitching a straight line, but boo boo doesn't mind.

tell your baby to "go sit on the poof. GO SIT!!"

the baby will then yell incoherently. i think he means "noooooooooooooo! give me a cookie first!"

and so he'll get the cookie and be adorable.

yea!

next time i'd like to make it bigger, but i think it'll need a zipper because there's no doubt that it'll get dirty with gross toddler baby finger smudges.

crochet related business.

so yesterday when we were at the post office i saw this girl wearing a crocheted ripple cape(!!) with black buttons and fringe. at first i just noticed it because it looked crocheted and i thought '...i could make that' and then when i saw it had buttons on the front i pretty much went crazy thinking that i NEEDED to make A CAPE for christ sake!!! all last night i had a bee in my bonnet about finding a pattern. and of course the FIRST thing that comes up in a google search of "ripple cape" is this pattern which is quite similar to the one i saw, except this one has weird arm things and no fringe. AND, it cost $8. and so, i don't know what to do. i don't feel like i'm advanced enough to just figure the ripple stitch out and then "make a cape" because ...i don't know. i just feel like there is a pattern out there and it should be a little cheaper. using a pattern = i won't have to think too hard.

oh, and the other thing....a cape!?!?!?!!??! will i wear a cape? it's not a poncho, which i would probably never wear. but i might wear this cape thing............maybe?

here are some other crocheted patterns on etsy that i found last night.

crocheted cozy cowl from bluestarbutterflies
i was looking for something like this a while ago (a mobius scarf) and this looks fast and easy. because i don't have enough scarf things.

oma house slippers from Mamachee these are SOOOOO awesome that i got another bee in my bonnet when i saw them last night. i need a good pair of slippers.

okay, today is apparently "toddler meltdown" day here, and so i don't know what's gonna happen this afternoon. we might go to the zoo because that will be easy. thankfully we have plenty of snacks and that ALWAYS helps.

reminder

if you are really bored you can always look at my tumblr blog. i wouldn't want you to forget about it or anything. it has a a lot of links to cool stuff on etsy and sometimes other places!!

esmond is taking his nap right now and there is so many things we have to get done today.
-post office
-library?
-bank/atm?
- be outside.

it looks nice out. we went out earlier this morning to get some stuff from the car and...... someone keeps vomiting on our back steps and it is really pissing me off. once there was vomit on the front AND back steps. it took forever for the rain to wash the front steps. it makes me feel trapped in our own apartment.

welll, that's enough of that.

two days ago boo boo turned 20 months.

and i need to talk about it before i forget!

words he has said recently:
meat
pea
soup
(we were eating "meat soup with peas")
walk
while
aisle
BEBO!
more
water
NOOOOOOO!
NO-PAH (nope)
booboo
baboo
mama
bup-bup (corey)
dad a (corey)
shoes

and lots of others that we don't understand yet.

he knows that he is boo boo AND that he is esmond. he points to things that are mine (coat, shoes) and says "mama"

he likes to throw garbage away.

he likes to use the broom

he likes to climb on the table to eat

he likes to climb on the desk to use the computer

he likes to go to the coffee shop to show off for the barista girls.

and he LOVES to have toddler tantrums.

but we still love him!

oh my god, i NEEEEED these shoes.

i have to have these shoes or i will just die.
probably have to wait til they are on sale. then i'll buy a trillion of them!!!!!

i should go to bed.

yesterday i went to snohomish to do some shopping with brent. whenever i see brent, which is hardly ever since he lives in NY, we always do THE EXACT SAME THING. well, i shouldn't say exact because we used to go to the thrift stores in everett/marysville and eat at tacos tacos guaymas. but this was a long long time ago when shop and save existed. anyway, now instead we go to the antique stores in snohomish and eat mexican food at the mexi place there. yesterday we had pizza instead. i think brent wanted coffee and thats what the pizza place had. but whatever, that is not the point. the point is that we always do the same thing because it is very comfortable.

i can remember specific trips we took and certain things that i bought and still have..... like this one time we went WAY up north to mt. vernon. i got a pair of real tortoise shell hoop earrings. then later we went to the vans store and got these weird moccasin shoes. i wish i still had those shoes. i also still have this velvet jacket i got the same day.....or another time that brent insisted that i buy these shoes that looked like clarks wallabee's . i thought they were W.E.I.R.D. but they fit and i STILL HAVE THEM and they are some of my favorites that i don't wear often enough because i'm afraid they will wear out.

there were a lot of things i didn't get but wanted to. like this 125 doll-hair quilt. i suppose that is actually a great price for it, but i can't afford that right now. but i loved all of the old quilts i saw.
i had my heart set on something of the vintage pyrex variety and there was not stopping me!!! i found a teal casserole dish for $6 and i was really happy. i also got a little orange dish that i will eat cereal or something out of. buster got a gigantic enamel spoon. he's a dork.
frontal found some harry potter glasses from the 20's. i forgot to get a picture of him though.

toddler meltdown weekend.

hooray! this weekend has been hard. buster caught the terrible two's or something.
frontilicus, front is here for a few days so we went out to brunch with him. it was a bad idea because it was too close to esmond's nap time. he was mad at both corey and me at different times and for different reasons. so that was not fun.

my tummy hurts now and i don't know if its from eating brunch. i got biscuits and gravy and i didn't eat all of it (just most of it.) so it's not a "fullness" issue (also since it's been almost 12 hours since i ate it) so it has to be some kind of other problem. who knows. i'm drinking some ginger ale now and maybe that will help.

ANYWAY.
here are some pictures from the month of January. just so i can remember it later.

spent a lot of time at the zoo!

started a new project:
one hexagon......

a lot of hexagons! i'm hoping this becomes a blanket.

daily lunch with buster:

lazy days

fun times out and aboot:

a little rant.

i was just reading my googie reader and found out a new organic daycare has opened up in our neighborhood. so i checked out the link just to see what it was about. esmond doesn't go to daycare because i decided not to go back to work.( mostly because my work wasn't worth going back to and i didn't make very much money because i was part time.) i'm sure anyone who reads this blog already knows that though. so whatever. probably in a year or two he might go to preschool. who knows though. i was thinking he'd just go to some church preschool down the street or something. anyway....the cost of sending your infant/toddler to this particular day care is $1750. i wish i could bold that number a hundred times because WHAT THE HELL.?!? i'm not really sure how anyone can afford daycare. jesus christ.

but yeah, so i know that daycare is really really expensive. i think what shocks me the most is that I STAY AT HOME AND WATCH MY CHILD and I AM NOT COMPENSATED AT ALL. at all. i am still "eating for two" because i STILL breast feed my baby which takes A LOT OF TIME. and ENERGY. and i do not get a paycheck for this. i also do not think that just "not paying for daycare/formula/nanny/whatever" makes it better. sometimes mom's that stay at home get the crap end of the stick.

bleh day.

esmond woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. which makes everyone extra cranky. i think he went to sleep later than he should have and then woke up earlier than he wanted. so yeah.
after we ate breakfast we went to fm to see if they had any clearance bread. i like to buy rudi's organic bread because it always taste good and i lately i've been finding that i can get it when it's marked down to $1.29 a loaf. so we went today and there were SOOOO MANY loaves marked down. i bought five. our (small) freezer is not very full so it all fit in there.
then we went to the goodwill. i didn't get anything though. i would have bought some pink shoes similar to ones i've had before (though not pink, so i don't know if i would wear the new ones) and a vintage nordstrom sweater that was kinda crappy and a vintage shift dress that was too big . but i didn't buy any of it because i don't have a ton of money to spend on stuff that i'm not gonna wear. so humph.

i have books ready to pick up at the library today so if all goes well we will walk over there and then go to the play ground. and we will take a towel with us to wipe the slide off in case it's too wet.

look what we made!

wacky cake!!

not so long ago cook's illustrated sent me a book that i didn't order. like, they were all 'oh, just try it out. and send it back if you don't like it...' so it sat on the pile of "to do" papers for months and months while they sent invoices telling me to pay for the book. so finally i paid for the book because it would take to much effort to go too the post office and send it back. sheesh. well, there was really only one recipe that caught my eye. (so far. i need to take a look at the book again.)
it's called "wacky cake" and it's vegan with out even TRYING to be vegan. sounds interesting. so last night me and the buster tried it. it's pretty good.
i didn't put vanilla in because we didn't have any and i didn't want to go get some. it was still good.

how awesome is it that this recipe is viewable on the cook's country website and i didn't even NEED TO BUY A STUPID BOOK that i DIDN'T WANT. AND, andd!!!!! they just sent me another book in the mail the other day. what the hell cook's country?!?!

my back hurts.

i've been thinking about new years resolutions.
like:
-wear more interesting clothing
-buy most of our clothes used, with the exception of underoos and socks.
-crochet a blanket
-make a stroller quilt for boo boo
-try and eat less meat
-grow my hair out

we went to the zoo today. it's weird because we have a zoo pass and have been there like, what, 500 times maybe? but we found an exhibit that we had never been to before. the willawong station. it's an indoor aviary with all these birds and they have seed sticks you can buy to feed the birds. it was so cool. i can't wait to go there again.

oh. yeah.
here is a recipe for delicious baked oatmeal. we have been eating this in the mornings and it is SO SO SO SOO freaking good.

REALLY GOOD BAKED OATMEAL!

serves 2 peeps plus a baby?

1 1/2 C. almond milk (i like unsweetened)
smidge or two of butters
3/4 C. steel cut oats
nutmeg
cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice (i use the pumpkin pie spice)
brown sugs
chopped apples and/or pears
blueberries

heat up the oven to 350 or so. grease up a baking dish with some butters. boil the almond milk and butters. add the oats and stir in the spices and a little sugar. just a little nutmeg but lots of pumpkin pie spice is good. add the apples/pears/blueberries. boil everything for a minute or two. pour into the baking dish and sprinkle the top with a little more brown sugar. bake it up for 10-15 min. or so. eat it up, yum...taste the best with a giant glop of whole milk maple yogurt. (!!!!!!!!!!!!)

IT IS SOO SOO GOOD you guys! you won't even believe it.