Baby Pool (With an Awesome Prize!)

Okay, everyone. Here’s the deal. I am 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant, and this whole “full term” thing is really f’ing with me. Basically, the boy could get here today, or it could be a month from now. The sucky thing is that I’m anxious because every single thing isn't ready yet but if I rush to get ready in every way, then I could potentially just sit around bored, uncomfortable, and pissed off for a month.

I’ve been a wee bit on the hormonal side, too. I can’t even think about this Subaru commercial without tearing up.

Just watched it again and cried.  When I was explaining this commercial to Matt the other day, 

crying all the while, I tried to pretend that I was really sad because he was the one 

driving my car when it crossed the 200,000 mile mark.  He didn't buy that explanation.

And yesterday, when my friend told me that they filmed O Brother, Where Art Thou? in her hometown and that she drove past and saw George Clooney in overalls with no shirt, I nearly unfriended her out of pure envy. I may have yelled at her for never having told me that before. George Clooney. Sweaty. Dirty. Overalls. Shirtless. Messy hair. For serious! (And OMG when he pulls his beard down while singing “Man of Constant Sorrow” and then winks at the crowd at the end of the movie, I can hardly contain myself! Hormones. Let’s blame this on hormones. Whoremones.)

Why, yes, George Clooney, I would like it if you would take off your shirt.  

You can go ahead and remove those pants, too, while you're at it.

So, yeah, I’ve sort of checked out on the whole being pregnant thing. I think the final straw (for now, at least—though I’m sure there’ll be lots more final straws, which means that they’re not really final at all, I guess) was when my foot felt a little tingly yesterday and I looked down to see that it was GIGANTIC and swollen and gross. It looks like I traded feet with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man! That’s it. I’m done.

37 weeks and 2 days.

Anyway, that’s enough kvetching. Now, to reward you for having put up with all my bitchin’ and moanin’ these last few months, Shecky and I decided that we should do a baby pool here on the blog. Here’s all you need to do to enter: leave a comment with your guess for 1.) the day the boy will be born, 2.) how much he will weigh, and 3.) how long he will be.

I’ll give you my guesses first, and you can go from there.

I predict that he will be born on March 25, will weigh 9 lbs. even, and will be 21 inches long. Boy’s due date is March 28, he was estimated to weigh 7 lbs. 3 oz. at our ultrasound a week ago, and we don’t know anything about the length.

Just leave your comment with your guesses, and afterward we’ll come up with a way to figure out who got closest (I’ll put Matt in charge of that since he’s better with math and won’t have just had another human exit his body). Winner will receive a copy of The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook (signed if I can swing it!).  Get your guesses in by next Friday, to keep it fair.

Happy guessing!

Office Space

Sometimes I sit in our house, pretend that I own it, and imagine all of the amazing renovations I would do if I did. Knock out some walls here, extend the kitchen here and here, refinish the floors, paint the exterior, plant hydrangeas and gardenias all over the place, move the entire house about 6 streets up, etc. But because we rent our house, I'm not in a position where I can pursue any of that, and when I find myself unhappy with the look of a room, there's not a whole lot that I can do. Usually I paint, which is a quick way to make a dramatic difference.

But one room would have none of that. Meet our office. Our ugly ugly office. Wood walls, wood floors, wood shelves, wood desks, and junk throughout. It was, by a mile, the ugliest and least comfortable room in our house. It looked like it belonged on the set of The Wonder Years.

I forgot to take specific before and after pictures, probably because I was so disgusted with the office in its before stage. But I did manage to dig up a few.


Note the way the office seems to be a magnet for all junk in the house. Note the small window which is the only source of natural light in the room. Note the wood on wood on wood look.

See all of the junk in the back corner? See the dilapidated bookshelf? Gross. Just disgusting. Oh, and pay attention to the desk to the right in the above picture. Below, "Oh, what a great place for garbage! To the office it goes!"

And one day (probably as a result of a horomone-induced rage), I decided that I HATED IT. I couldn't even sit in the office without getting angry and wanting to scream. So I brainstormed and then called Matt's mom, HGTV addict and Super Woman of home decor. She gave me some ideas, and I had a few ideas on my very own, and $104 later, this is what I had.

(I would have actually removed the ironing board and wedding gift from the left, but I needed to iron, and the gift is there to remind me to wrap it. Don't judge. Just pretend it's an IKEA catalog, all lived in and such.)

Above: painted IKEA stool, painted desk, hung paper lantern. And, of course, made a Mitch pillow.

Below: covered cork board with fun fabric, hung new floating shelf.

Above: painted wacky chair, lined inside of desk (this desk used to be black metal with a fake wood top) with remaining fabric, painted trash can.

Below: bought and painted wicker basket to use as a place for mail.

Above: purchased longer curtain rod that would extend an extra foot on either side of the window to create the illusion of a larger window. Hard to see in this picture, but it actually worked.

Above and below: awesome cube shelf from Target.

Below: painted large bookshelf white, reorganized it. Look how I can watch two TVs at once! I know you're jealous.

Ah, Sharpies. How I love you, Sharpies.

And what office is complete without a dog under the desk keeping cool and hiding from his football-watching dad? Oh, also note the new floating shelf and floating cube shelves painted white.

The office is now a much brighter, much more cohesive room. I eliminated the junk, made a nice spot to sit and talk on the phone or read. I'm actually happy when I come in here now.

I gave myself a budget of $100 to redo the office. Here's a breakdown of the cost:

• Curtain rod, $4


• Large cube shelf, $40


• Baskets for cube shelf, $16


• Spray paint, $18


• Starburst fabric, $7


• Fabric for Mitch pillow, $4


• Hanging shelves, $5


• Fake strawberries (why did I buy these?), $2


• Basket [for mail], $5


• Trash can, $3

Grand total, $104. That makes me very happy. Now if only I could figure out how to knock out walls without the landlord noticing. . .