Love at Home

I was reading a book this weekend called Love at Home, which is about how to embrace being a stay-at-home mommy and using a budget. After some calculations for our house buying escapades this weekend as well, I was hoping the book would be a great resource. The author had talked about herself and how she used to be the epitome of the "disposable society" that we now live in, and how if you can "eat it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" you can save money and live in your budget.

"Wait a sec", I thought, "I already do that?!" I was hoping that this book could give me some inside tips, but it actually instead reconfirmed what I already think about things and such.

"What is it that you think about things?" you ask...

Well, I am a fixer, I hate wasting, and I do like nice things. And I don't want to hurt the things feelings. To me, if I think about it long enough, sometimes things have feelings. Have you ever seen the movie "Brave Little Toaster". So when I buy something, I really think about it, and that I'll use it. That is why I'll usually wait and save, and get a nicer thing. They usually last longer as well. But not always, just most of the time.

I decided to make a list of things that I've been able to fix or reuse while still feeling like I have nice things:

1. Blue Comforter~ Ah, a favorite of mine. Right after we were first married we got our navy blue comforter on sale at Bed, Bath and Beyond with money from our wedding. I love that thing. Well, I decided to wash it, and it got caught on the inside of our used washer machine in Texas. I pulled it out after the buzzer went off, and to my grief and surprise, there is a HOLE and TEAR in the side of it! Some of the fabric had been pulled so tight it was now a whiteish color too. I called Nathan at work in tears saying I had "ruined the comforter". He couldn't understand through the tears and thought I had said I "ruined the car". Once that mess was worked out, he didn't mind, and I went to working looking for another. Couldn't find one. Anywhere. So then I decided to try to fix it. I put a patch over the hole (which was on the side) out of the same color fabric, hand stitched it, and fixed the piping along the side. It actually looks really good, you can't really see it, AND it cost about $5 at the most to fix for thread and the fabric. Now I love it even more because of that patch.

2. Vaccum~ Our vaccum had stopped working, had a short in the handle, and wouldn't suck anymore. Time for a new one according to Nathan. We looked around, but man, vacuums are expensive! So I opted to try out the vacuum repair shop down the way just to see if it could be fixed and for how much. Easy cheesy lemon squeezy! All it needed was a new handle (that you can apparently just switch out), and hair removed from the bottom where it had gotten entangled. Nathan even replaced the handle himself, and $35 later, we had ourselves a vacuum that worked like new :)

3. Pack-n-Play~ This got a hole, and a BIG one at that. I couldn't figure out how either, it was in the meshy part on the side, and James hasn't even used that part yet. Well, I wanted to fix it. So I went to the store and found the right sort of thread, and sewed it back together. The lady behind the counter said I shouldn't even try, to just get a new one. What?!? I don't think so. Expensive, and I love my safari animal one that goes with everything, and they don't carry that one anymore, and again, expensive! $3 later, good as new!

Well, you get the idea. I've had a bowl and a cup from my blue plate set that I've fixed, multiple buttons, turning pants into shorts, reusing glass baby jars for multiple uses, refilling our own ink cartridges each time now, using that crazy puddy stuff that is super strong to fix trim on a car, etc. I think I'm doing pretty good.

What is the most memorable thing that you've fixed?

Changes...

Time changes everything. And big changes came the Manwaring way this month...

...before a five day business trip that took Nathan to 5 states in 5 days (AK, TN, PA, MD, and NJ, and the jet lag and time on a plane, it actually makes me feel dizzy just to think of it) we wanted to at least be close to a decision concerning which business school to attend. Nathan would be with Rick, the main partner of Equation Consulting for five days, and what a perfect opportunity to tell him if he wanted to stay and grow in the company, or if he'd be leaving. We'd been praying lots about what to do, talked to many different people, had lots of applications and interview processes, and even a rejection from a school in California. We decided that the best thing for our family right now, and in this economy, is to stay with his current firm and attend the University of Utah to receive his masters degree there. What a decision, and to wait for so long (a few years) to now apply to the other schools to now decide to stay?! Well, it felt right, and after telling Rick on the trip, Rick was so excited he got Nathan an iPhone (which is cool, but at the same time can be annoying to have so much information at your fingertips. Did I mention that I hate texting?)

Anyway, so there we go, now onto stage two of that decision....HOUSE HUNTING!

Can you say yikes?! And to meet the tax credit deadline, we've got to get our behinds moving! We've been probably to close to 35-40 houses in person, not to mention the {hundreds} we've been looking at online.

Oh yeah, AND this all happened the same week we bought a car, which I bought at the dealership without Nathan as he was somewhere on a jet plane.

Anyone interested in buying an 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe? Still working on selling that too.

Big stuff, and now it feels like we've only touched the tip of the iceburg since the house buying process is now upon us. Can you say stress?

On to the fun stuff though...James is the CuTEsT baby EVeR!! Grandma Hiller pinned it on the nose... "he is just perfect".

Could he be any cuter? I submit that he cannot! James and Mommy

Fun Sunday Times...

...in our little house in Provo. We are going to miss it here when we move, so we'll be enjoying all the time we've got at the moment. Life is {relatively} simple, and I like it.

On a walk with Daddy and Lady

Kisses from Mommy

Enjoying some tummy time

6 Months Already!?!

A whole half a year has gone by since my baby was born, and I don't know where the time went. We got his pictures taken on Saturday, and we'll post those when we get them, and today he had his six month appointment. His stats are as follows:

~Weight: 13 lbs, 9 oz, 1%tile (down from 2%tile)
~Length: 24.5 in, 2%tile (down from 7%tile)
~Head circ: 16.7 in, 16 %tile (up from 11%tile)


big smile on my half burfday

Okay, so he's little, anyone surprised? Have you seen me? Nathan isn't that big either, and hey, I wasn't even on the charts until I was about 6 years old, so this is doing great. Most importantly though is that he is healthy, he's never been sick (had the sniffles once) nor had an ear infection, he eats a ton and loves solid food, he is reaching milestones ahead or right on time, and he is the happiest baby anyone has ever seen. James has his two bottom teeth that are sharp! He can roll both ways and likes to roll everywhere, gives kisses, sits up all by himself, can stand, and most importantly, sleeps through the night, still! He had a little trouble at Christmas time with everyone there and so many new things around (and a growth spurt because he ate a TON of food while there), but after we got back home and back on a relative schedule, he is fine. Can you believe how incredibly cute he is! We are so blessed to have this little one in our family.

Nathan looking at the small lake formed by James on the kitchen floor, James thinking "What, I'm just splashing?"

Just a happy kid in jammers

New Car

Just the first of many big things happening around here that I'll blog about soon :)

We bought a new car!

I think the roof rack thing makes the car look more rugged and SUV like.

Quick Update

Sorry, haven't posted in awhile. I have been so busy! But, I've heard and learned that life from here on out just gets busier, so I had better get a crackin' and learn how to catch up. Nathan left for a 5 day business trip last week, so that left me with the babe, all by myself. I did it too! Kirstin was so nice and stayed with me at nights. James rolled over from his back to his belly on the Monday he was gone (Jan 11), and the next day was rolling continuously. Then I'd hear a noise at night, I look on the monitor, and he'd be practicing his rolling all over his bed! Silly baby, just wanted to perfect it before his daddy came home I guess. Kirstin was so nice and stayed with me at nights. I got to work 3 nursing shifts these last two weeks as well which has kept me busy. With all of that going on, I haven't had time to download pictures to the computer; here are just some cute fav's of James (he is almost 6 months!):

Everything must pass the "mouth test", this pig passes


Hmmm, this spins

Get a picture of me before I wiggle away! James has become a wiggle worm


How he falls asleep, with one had over his eyes as he has rubbed them because he's tired.

Accidental Falconry

The craziest thing happened to me this week, and I didn't have my camera to capture it, so a well told story will have to do. Lady had been down it seemed since we'd gotten back from AZ on Sunday. On Friday I decided to take her up hiking at our favorite place, Indian Trail Head, here in Provo. We go up, James in his snowsuit and carrier, Lady running along, loving the snow. There are wild turkeys up there, I've seen them with Jenn before. Well, we found the turkeys, pretty cool I think. They were wondering among some shrub oak and I send in Lady to "go get the turkeys". She's done it before, she can't catch them, so all is well, right? WRONG! I didn't see (and I don't know how I missed it) this GIANT hawk or eagle in the shrub oak that is all around there. Lady goes into the shrub oak, flushed out the turkeys, they fly out, and the hawk gets one, about 30 yards from us! I didn't see the actual kill, but I heard it, Lady did too, and ran back to me (luckily). The hawk made good time, and was trying to carry his catch away, but it was too heavy. It kept trying, only getting about a foot off the ground, then it would fall back down. I held onto Lady because I didn't want her going over to investigate, I mean this hawk just took out a turkey, and obviously wants it. Lady would probably win, or at least run away, but probably not without battle scars. Anyway, we watched it for a little bit, then went back to the car. I called Nathan to tell him, and he was like "did the hawk leave it, lets have turkey for dinner". Haha, he was kidding, but I felt so bad for that turkey. However, I do know that birds of prey have a hard time in the winter and only about a third make it through their first winter. Either way, I participated in some accidental falconry, and the circle of life continues.

The Predator

The Prey


The accidental falconers (picture taken earlier this year, same spot)


The accomplice (picture taken earlier in year, same spot)