Happy Birthday to Me

Yes, my birthday was about two weeks ago, but thank you everyone for all the cards, texts, and FB messages. I loved it! Unfortunately, that was also the day Malachi really decided to test his climbing skills as he made it up our tall dining room chairs, on the toilet onto the sink, on his drum onto the subwoofer onto the tv stand, etc. And of course that was the day Eric got home late because of the rain. Ah! He finally made it home though, gave me a break, and then took us out to dinner. 

Our first time at Mo's Southwest Grill was... 还可以 - so so. But Malachi had fun as you can see below! He ate pretty much nothing but sour cream and a few chips.

After dinner we went home, and Eric and Malachi finished frosting the lime jello poke cake Eric had made me! It was awesome.

So yes, happy birthday to me. Thank you everyone!

Time with Grandma and Aunty Shana

Malachi kept busy when Mom and Shana came to visit.

He...

     Took Grandma over the bridge

     Got to play in the garbage

     Got to eat a freezy pop for the first time

     Got to play in the car

     Got to stretch with Grandma

     Got to eat with Grandma

     Got to play on the computer with Grandma

     Got to play with hangers with Aunty Shana

     Got to try finger painting

     Got to practice driving

     Got to do some more eating

     And some more eating

     Got to read books with Grandma

     Got to try out new cell phones

     Got to visit Churchill Downs

     Got to see the horses

     And got to race his own horse

It was a busy time!

(credit to Aunty Shana for taking so many pics!)

Random Comments from Strangers

We're slowly adjusting to life here, but there are still new things every day. I mentioned some of the little things we've seen. Another difference is that people here seem more friendly. I've heard that worldwide, the further south you go, people become more relaxed and friendly. Definitely true here. The biggest way I've seen it is in random people just talking to you when you're out.

Example A) We're at Walmart and Malachi is sitting in the cart a little ways away from us as we scour the shelf for a certain air freshener. Random man walks by and says, "So, they just left you, huh?" He just smiles at us and keeps going.

Example B) We're at Aldi buying groceries. Had found a little plastic pool for Malachi and was attempting to cram it into the trunk. Man sitting in his truck next to me says, "Well, I'll be over this week." Ha! Took me a second to figure out why he was talking to me and what he was talking about.

I like it though! Makes me feel comfortable and like I know people even when I don't really know anyone!

Peach Jam

My mom and sister came to visit a week ago, and one of the things that got added to the list was for mom to teach me how to make peach jam since Kroger (our grocery store out here) had peaches on sale. 

My mom makes great jam, and her store room in the basement is frequently raided by her children returning home and needing to stock up. I wasn't planning on learning, but it was fun and might make some nice Christmas gifts - if it lasts that long.

Chop chop little peaches

Boil, boil, boil

Into the jars

Wipe the rims

Seal em and flip upside down for five minutes

Finished! They all sealed!

A Revamped Lamp

This morning Malachi and I headed out on a walk that quickly turned into garage saleing! Ha! Not my fault there was a sale right along our route. Since I couldn't buy anything before we moved, I thought it was worth checking to see what we could use now. At the first sale we found a whole bunch of lamps which is something we really need since neither bedroom nor the living room have any light fixtures. I picked out a short one with a plain white base and a shade that had some feminine flowery designs on it. And then proceeded to scour Pinterest for ideas of how to redo it for Malachi's room. 

The website I came across that was my inspiration and guidance was paperblog. You should check it out if you want great detailed directions. 

So here's the lampshade with the outer layer of the shade carefully trimmed off. 

I then used the original shade panels to cut out new ones. 

I used fabric I had saved after making curtains for his room a while back. The only mistake in cutting was not allowing a wider allowance on the top and bottom since I didn't trim the original super close to the frame. It worked out ok, but it was a tight stretch. 

I hate ironing, but I knew it would look better, and you can't exactly go back and iron creases out of your lamp later. 

Then I started with the orange panels and glued them on with E6000 adhesive. It was good to do them first because then I could trim the extra fabric before doing the print panels. 

The last step was to glue on the trim. I used single fold bias tape. The other website says to use double fold, but single fold seemed to work fine too. 

Here's the final project! I might still spray paint the base, but white is fine for now.

Oh, and at the second garage sale we found a nice wood kitchen with sink/oven and fridge which we bought for Malachi's Christmas present! 

Plants

One thing we like about our new place here in LV is that we have a little back patio area. It needed a little work, and we had some loving care but little money to help it. Thankfully my mom and sister Shana were coming to visit, and my mom is good with plants.

First, I asked her to bring her clippers so we could trim up the tree/bush.

She did a nice quick job, and then it was time to decide what to do with the rest of the space. I was thinking some veggies in pots or trays, and then if we had enough money, a shrub or bush for the corner. And some weed spray to attack the rest.

Thankfully both Home Depot and Lowe's are relatively close, so after some price comparisons and a 10% off coupon to Lowe's from the change of address envelope you get at the post office, we ended up getting most of the things at Lowe's. We did go back to Home Depot for the veggie plants because they just looked nicer and were on sale. And we got it all within our budget!

We bought:

• seeds for lettuce and peas (to be planted in August)
• window boxes to plant them in
• tomato, pepper, and zucchini plants
• super cheap hanging planters for them (just discarded the hanging parts)
• a bag of soil for vegetables
• an azalea plant
• a bag of topsoil
• a trowel
• gardening gloves
• weed killer

We started with the three vegetable plants 

Next was the azalea, so we needed to clear the rocks and dig a hole. Simple, right? Ha! If you live in MN/IA and have black dirt maybe. Not if you live in KY and your ground is solid clay. After 20 minutes of Mom and I both working on that hole we both decided a pot would be better. Hey, and that way we could take it with us if we move, right? 

So that night we bought a pot and the next day planted our azalea. Happy family!

Now I just get to water the plants and wait for August when I can plant the other veggies!

Little Things

One thing about moving to a new place is the little things you notice that are different. Something that stood out right away about Kentucky was that fireworks are legal. This display was in Wal-mart. Not sure if it means they allow smoking in other parts of the store??

I try to walk twice a week and run twice a week. As you may have seen on the news, Louisville has been one of the hottest cities in the nation lately, so those walks and runs have definitely been in the morning. Here are a few things we noticed. 

Houses with double front doors. (not all of them - just more than I've ever seen before which is zero.)

Lots and lots of brick (and shutters). I know my aunt in SC said they build with brick there because termites will get the wood. Maybe the same here??

A lot of residential areas don't have curb, so people will put little cement cones or rocks along the grass line.

This is really truly not everywhere, but we did find a place on the way back from Nashville where gas was $2.97 a gallon. Amazing!

Finally, today at the grocery store, two shelves full of corn meal! Ha! Not something you'd ever see in MN or IA.