Makeover

I needed an office chair for my "home office" so I set out and to find something cheap but with potential at a second-hand store. I found this chair:




Which now looks like this:






What do you think about my first furniture refashion?

My Little Helper

The Move: Part II

Last year I got a new alarm clock, you know, the kind that if you don't wake up when it makes a sound, then it reaches out and slaps you in the face...literally. Yep, B is pretty effective an getting one out of bed. Every once and a while you get a bye and he "snoozes" a little more. Well, last Friday was no exception. We decided that we would just start our final day of travel relaxed and on B's schedule. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, loaded the car back up, changed one more diaper, and were on our way across the great state of Indiana. I let my mom drive and I rode in back with B. We decided to stop around 12 (again sticking with B's schedule) to eat at a Bob Evan's restaurant. While Mom went to get seated, I headed to the bathroom to change B's diaper. Oh, in case I didn't mention, B was teething like no body's business last week....now link that up to the diaper change. Well, to spare you the details, I had to call in back-up, literally from the bathroom. Mom started the clean-up process and I ran back out to dig another outfit out of the mountain of stuff in the car. Hence this recent post. The white onsie was saved though! A clothing miracle! Anyways, we ate, B had a couple of new things at lunch, and got back on the road. Somewhere in Ohio B woke up and I noticed a darkness creeping up his leg, yep wet pant leg. So, we pull over at a Meijer to change him and get him some more snacks. In the bathroom we find yet another huge mess. So, after another change of clothes we were back on our way. I was beginning to think we were going to run out of clothes before we could get to Canton. But, B surprised us and took a third nap that afternoon and we safely arrived a little before 5 pm.
Since then we have received all of our furniture and boxes (with a broken crib of course), started unpacking slllllloooooooowwwwwlllllyyyyy, went grocery shopping, went baby proofing shopping (Do you know the number of people that will laugh at you in any given store if you ask where the baby-proof trash cans are? A lot.), tried out a new church, took my mom to the airport, retracted an offer we had previously put on a house, and made an offer on another house. And B has his top two teeth now and is pulling up on things left and right!

The Move: Part I

We are finally here! In our new home! In Ohio! Where it is cold and well, er...rainy today. I have been a little incommunicado for the past couple of days but just wanted to catch you all up on the latest move the DiSandros just made which just so happened to be Ben's second move in his wee, short life. Here is the condensed version as it it all went down....and at some points spiraling down.
It all began last week on Wednesday. I was slowly packing my way through the house but hit a small snag called running out of boxes. Whoops! Well I had a good estimate of how many I would need so I went ahead and called the moving company with a final estimate. As I was taking to my agent I asked when I should be getting a call for the pick-up window since I haven't received one yet. He said anytime now. So I waited. Well, I was mentioning the conversation to my other half that night and a light bulb must have went on because he then remembered that they had called and said that the pick-up was a two-day window of Thursday/Friday. Egad! Starting a little panicky sweat...but alas the truck driver called later that night to say he would be in Greenville to pick up on Friday morning. Whew! Panicky sweat now evaporating... Thursday morning I got up, got Ben ready and was thinking about my last day in the office and what I had to do, my co-workers had planned a going-away lunch, etc. and I get a call...THE call. The one that turned day upside down. It was the driver again...he was 3 HOURS away. What?! Serious panic starting to build now... I still had B with me, I had no boxes, it was supposed to be my last day at work... I felt like I would crumble underneath the pressure. So, I started to pray and ask God to just get me through the day. I made a bunch of calls telling everyone that all bets were off and that my plans were out the window. I dropped B off early at the sitters, called work, and I then started dumpster diving for boxes....well, not really diving, just dipping my toes in a little. Hey, they were clean! Well, I hauled a bunch home and started running around the house like a madwoman packing. Liz stopped by to help for a bit, bless her heart, she had her own house to pack. And thank God Beth, didn't have plans, she kept B all day for me. I had to laugh when I picked him up....after 5 pm...she told me the boys where asking if Ben was going to live with them now. Poor kid must of thought I abandoned him there. :) The movers didn't get done until around 5 and then I ran into my office to clean it out and say goodbye to whoever was left there. I then picked up B and we drove to get my mom at the Shiloh/Scott Metra parking lot where she left her car. We drove home and then I finished cleaning the house and emptying the fridge. I packed up the car with all of the things that we might need before the truck got to Ohio and that left us with one last chore before we left: move our van to a safe spot to park until we could get new plates and drive it back out to Ohio. Click...click...click. Some of you may recognize that sound...yes a dead battery. Super. Its 10 pm now. I was determined to at least get out of IL for the first leg of the trip. Oh course my jumper cables were on a truck to Kansas or somewhere like that so, my mom called my dad's cousin and he dropped off jumper cables. She jumped the car (I know, what a mom right?!) and drove it to the parking spot with me following her. After a brief stop for gas before heading out of town, we were well on our way. We ended up stopping in Terra Haute for the night around 1 am. Thankfully, B was very good on the road and slept most of the way.
Stay tuned for Part II...

The Newest Addition To Our Family....Meet The Twins

I apologize if this title was slightly misleading...serves you right though if you jumped to different conclusions. :-) Due to some extreme conditions we have been experiencing of late, we decided to expedite our purchase of these babies. Ahhhhhh...my life is so much easier now that they are here.

Cross Your Fingers Folks....

This could be the job for me. It looks like it is a small shop right now but they are wanting to go big soon. Check it out! :-) And now back to packing....

Motivation Please!

A little taste of what our surroundings look like...



A little bit of what B looks like when Mommy is tired of packing....

What Was I Thinking?!

Okay, so I just made a 9x13 pan of fudge brownies....and its just B and me. We all know that I could take that pan of brownies down but will I? Ugh...we'll see.

Happy Valentines Day!

What better way to celebrate Valentines Day than making heart-shaped bean bags for your favorite sister's daughter, also known as your favorite 16 month old niece? :-) Happy Valentines Day to all of my "sweeties", "pumpkin faces", and "busters" out there!

It's Goes Against How I Was Raised....But This One Is For Papa

9 Months!

Okay, so this post is a little delayed. B and I spent a week scoping out our new "home"town. It will take some adjusting...once we get there that is. Anyways, what you have all been waiting for (probably not but nonetheless), here are B's latest stats.

Weight: 25 lb 5 oz
Height: 29.25"

I'm already starting to see some "rascal" coming out in his personality. Now that he is getting around pretty good he has started exploring some of the less kid-friendly places in our home. For example the TV and DVD player....at least he is keeping to one room.