Tuesday, November 29, 2011

New Discovery

For as long as I can remember, I have loved Samoas. Yes, the Girl Scout cookies that are so good that 'you always want samoa'. Get it? That was the witty sales pitch I admit to using more than once as a young girl in green trying to sell cookies. Samoas have always been my favorite of the GS cookies. One year for Valentine's Day my husband even bought me 2 cases of these cookies because of how much I love them! (...except he quickly learned that I could never eat that many cookies!) But it was a great idea because you can only get them once a year and feel like you need to stock up to make it through the year!

Flash forward to 2 weeks ago as I was walking through HEB, and a cookie package caught my eye, Keebler's Coconut Dreams. The package had an image of a cookie that looked like a Samoa and since Keebler is the creator of Grasshopper cookies which definitely can hold their own against Thin Mints, I decided to give them a try.

What a fantastic surprise! These cookies are delicious! While I have not done a side-by-side taste test to compare them to Samoas, they taste pretty darn close to the real thing. And just like Samoas, these cookies are extra good when cold, so I'm keeping my package (okay, to be fair, I'm on my 2nd package by now...) in the refrigerator.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

We're Ready!

This pregnancy has been great. It has been fun, exciting, eye-opening, a learning experience, a bonding experience, and also tiring, scary, emotional, and stressful. Nine months (or ten actually!) have gone by with something new each day - the way the baby moves, maybe, or a new piece of advice from a friend or coworker - and we are now so ready for little Preston to arrive.

As of my last doctors appointment, I was 2 cm dialated and 80% effaced. She said she thought I would deliver about a week early, which would be around 4/15. I am not thrilled about my baby's birthday being on tax day, however, so I am doing lots of walking in the hopes that he will make his debut sooner! We have another appointment with the doctor tomorrow to see if anything has changed in the past week.

I must confess that I am getting a little nervous about how long labor will last and how painful it will be, but I know that it will be worth it in the end when my little baby boy is placed in my arms... right, moms? Plus, there is always the epidural to help with that!

There are a few things still on our to-do and to-purchase lists that we plan to tackle this weekend so that everything will be just right and we will feel ready when Preston blesses us with his presence. I don't think Phil is as worried about getting these last things done before Preston comes, so maybe that's just my nesting instinct kicking in. And to be truthful, he is probably right-- things like hanging pictures on the wall can probably wait... but of course I want everything to be perfect. :)

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Baby ____'s Nursery... A Work in Progress

With a lull in home projects upon us, we of course decided to create a project for ourselves, and getting the nursery ready was the perfect one! We started out with an empty room with all the walls painted chocolate brown, and white trim and shutters.


We decided that we wanted to have a dark wooden crib and lighten the walls, so we purchased wainscoating panels, chair rail, and new paint for the walls. We bought everything on a Sunday morning and were able to get all of the wainscoating and chair rail up by the end of that day. Luckily Phil had planned to take 2 days off of work the following week so he graciously spent his days off doing all of the caulking and painting that were needed to finish off the project.

Next we decided that the lighting in the room was not bright enough, especially at the entrance to the room where the built in drawers and shelves are located. We did not want to embark on a huge electrical project which is what we could have done if we wanted to try to keep the ceiling fan and branch off of it, because we would have to split the fan and the light onto separate switches and it would have been somewhat complicated since there is only a single wall switch currently. So we decided to just remove the ceiling fan and replace with a light fixture, and tie in new recessed task lights at the built-ins on the same switch. It turned out to be the perfect amount of light and we are very happy with the result.

AND finishing up the lighting meant we could put together the crib and make the bed, to make the room really look like a nursery! We also bought a matching dresser that can be used as a changing table on the top surface. Here is a photo of me standing in the nursery next to the crib:


Next we need to get a glider chair/ottomon and a small table with a lamp and clock on it, and do some decorating on the walls. As soon as we decide on a name we will be putting individual letters spelling out his name on the wall above his crib, so the pressure is on for us to make a decision! Suggestions are welcome. :)

Just a little something I'm proud of...

Working in the sign business is rewarding in that you get to see a finished product on a building and know all the effort that you put in to coordinating those signs paid off in a big way to provide wonderful advertising and exposure for your customer. I love driving past "my" signs at businesses across the city, state, and country. In December we finished a very large project for a new theatre in Frisco, TX and I had an opportunity to fly up and see the signs in person both at day and night, and attend a VIP opening event. So I thought I'd share some photos of the beautiful signs!!





Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Pregnancy Update

Today I had my 25-1/2 week doctor's appointment. She reports all is well with my weight gain, the baby's heart beat, and my vitals. I go back in 3 weeks for my next appointment and glucose screening, to test for gestational diabetes. I am really hoping that one comes back negative because I would really have to put my sweet tooth in check and change up my diet!