If you were a bag of pegs....

You know, the pegs that you put in the bookcase to hold the shelves up? Anyways, if you were a bag of said pegs, where would you be? I am so excited to get my office organized and a classroom set up and.... you guessed it. We've lost the pegs. I am certain I put them in "a very safe place" where I couldn't possible lose them, but, um, yeah. So I have a million boxes of books just waiting to be unpacked, but no pegs. And a million places where said pegs might just be. Ugh.


ETA: Found them! In the VERY safe place also known as the old Easter basket at the back of the garage. Safe safe!

Kennett's Memorial Day Parade

We went to Kennett for the annual Memorial Day Parade this morning! The parade took over 1.5 hours to go by - old cars, horses, boy scouts, girl scouts, veterans, civil war reenactors (did I spell that right?!?), fire trucks from all over the place, Marines, Navy Seals... you name it, we had it. Henry had a blast...




Keith did too, but he would only let me take a few pictures. I guess he's growing up or something?


There were A LOT of fire trucks...

And for the GRAND FINALE!!!!!!!!!!!

By the end, both of the boys were a bit tired.


Happy Memorial Day!

Birthing women win legal decision

As someone who has her babies with a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife), I am very excited about this!
Birthing women win legal decision

Diane Goslin, 50, had been under a cease-and-desist order from the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine, which had charged her with practicing medicine and midwifery without a license.

But the Commonwealth Court panel, in a 5-2 decision, nixed that order yesterday.

"I am very excited," Goslin, from New Providence, said shortly after she learned of the decision. "This is such an encouraging day of victory for women and families."

The state had charged Goslin because she is not a nurse-midwife, that is, someone with a nursing degree who specializes in childbirth. State officials have argued that in Pennsylvania, a woman must be a nurse-midwife to practice midwifery.

Goslin is not a nurse-midwife. She is a certified professional midwife, having obtained certification through the North American Registry of Midwives 12 years ago. Twenty-two states, including New Jersey, recognize the certification in their licensing and regulatory requirements.

And more interesting green stuff...

So there's this website, ClimateCounts.org, which scores companies with regards to how they affect the climate. The have a score card you can download to see if your favorite store is striding (doing well), starting (doing ok), or stuck (yeah, not doing too hot at all). From their website:

We have come together with a shared conviction that the time for talk about global warming has passed, and that significant corporate, consumer, and political action is now necessary. Our goal is to motivate deeper awareness among consumers-not only that the issue of climate change demands their attention, but also that they have the power to support companies that take climate change seriously - and avoid those that don't. When consumers take action and raise their voices on issues that matter to them, businesses pay attention. A loud and clear consumer movement that demands more aggressive corporate action on climate change will not fall on deaf ears.

Oh, and there's always Freecycle. Give away stuff you don't want anymore, and make someones day. No strings attached. Ever hear of "one man's junk is another man's treasure"? I've even seen a flat screen TV on Freecycle, granted only once in the past few years, but hey!

And then there's ReCork America. It's currently only on the West Coast that I can see (California & Oregon), but it's definitely interesting, and for those who know me, something I can contribute to! Of course, you could always make your wine corks into nifty things like a bulletin board, a trivet, or even a serving tray.

Oh, and from Treehugger.com, How To Green Your Life, including your funeral, your kid's toys (I'm thinking it's a no on crap from China). your recycling, and even your sex life.

Grow a green chair! Who needs lawn furniture, when you can have lawn furniture?

Want to stop all that pesky junk mail?

You know, the "____ you've been preapproved for a platinum Mastercard" junk that makes you THINK you got real mail until you look through it and it's all junk? Then check out www.greendimes.com. There's different memberships, but the free basic one takes you off of the junk mailing lists - you just have to enter the info yourself instead of having the greendimes people do it for you. Save a tree!

My local Acme is a "green" store

Acme Markets Opens "Greenest" Store in Philly

I don't know if there's also one in Philly or if the author just didn't know the difference between Glen Mills (pop. 13,909) and Philadelphia (pop. 1,448,394), but that's my Acme they're talking about there! It's a green store. The floor is sealed cement - I don't remember what's green about that but it has a plaque on the wall talking about it and why it's green, the roof is reflective, and there's quite a few other green things about it. And nifty plaques all through the store describing the green things they did. AND, they have special, right-up-by-the-door parking for carpools AND hybrid cars. I didn't know people carpooled to the grocery store, but hey, you learn something new every day! I'll post a pic of the hybrid parking only sign - I had to do a double take the first time I saw it!

Henry vs. the stairs, round 17

Henry's been having an issue with the stairs, lately. He has a permanent bruise on his forehead and a couple of banged up knees. He seems to forget that there's one last pesky step all the time and ends up missing it. And THEN, his dear, sweet older brother decided he was going to sneak up behind Henry and scream and scare Henry today. Didn't bother to think that maybe scaring Henry when he's standing on the landing at the top of the steps might not be such a great idea. So, a flight of stairs later, Henry's got a bigger bruise and a cut chin and scraped up knees. I'm thinking about wrapping him in bubble wrap.

Rest in Peace, Hampster

Keith's hampster (yes, its name was Hampster - we're not a creative bunch around here) passed away sometime last night (finally). He got Hampster for Easter, over two years ago. Well, he got Hampster, then Ed lost Hampster when he was cleaning its cage, so it was replaced with a look alike hampster (Hampster #2), then Hampster came back, then Hampster #1 and Hampster #2 had babies, then the babies died, then Hampster #2 died, and then we only had Hampster. And now, Hampster has died. He's buried in the big blue coffin in the back yard. Also known as the trash can. Keith's a bit bummed, but there are no plans to replace Hampster any time soon.

And back to the ranting and raving

Well, I'm actually not going to rant and rave, at least not *TOO* much. I just have a question - if you were going to spend $10,000 on something, would you want the person you were paying to listen to you and respect your wishes? Or would you rather they just said "you hired me, I'm the expert, it's my way or the highway"? Really, I'm curious. Give me your perspective - I'm sure you can guess as to what my answer would be, but I know I'm a bit different from everyone else in the world! So, thoughts? Anyone?

And then we have brown...

We finished the entryway and the dining room, too. No, they're not Red Bay. I think that might have been some overkill. Instead, the entryway is Mocha by Sherwin-Williams, and the dining room is Mocha and Bona Fide Beige, both by Sherwin-Williams. Not just Beige, but Bona Fide Beige. The hallway is going to be Bona Fide Beige, too, but I have to unpack some boxes first before we paint in there. So, the entryway, with helper number two:

Before - boring old white:



After - Mocha!:






And the dining room, with same helper:

Before & During:

Progress, part 1

So we've been painting fools around here. Not that I didn't like Adam's choice of colors, but he used flat paint, and I have little boys. Flat paint and little boys don't quite go together. At all. I need to be able to scrub! I need to be able to use my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on my walls and not worry about the paint coming off! So we got new paint. The kitchen is on hold at the moment, because I need to buy about 100ft of beadboard, but it's still red. As is the living room!! Ed (and his little helper) were going to do the cut work (is that what it's called? The edges?) one day and then the rolling the next.





But, the next morning, I got up to see...





My dear husband stayed up to finish the whole room by himself, while yours truly slept! Now if that's not love, I don't know what is! Isn't it pretty? Yes, that would be Red Bay, aka Amy's favorite color.

Ewwww

I was first introduced to these nasty bugs this past fall, when they were all over the place up at Nik's. I don't like them. I took great pride in the fact that they did not exist (well, except for one or two who caught a ride with me or Nik from her place) in Kennett Square. Unfortunately, it seems that Rt 202 is the line which they don't cross. Also unfortunately, I now live on the same side of Rt 202 as Nik. You got it - the stink bugs live in Glen Mills, too.

Fun at Lowe's

Yesterday (and today, actually) we went to Lowe's. And Home Depot... I can't quite remember why we went to both. Anyways, we were wandering around Lowe's, and they have a little appliance clearance section in the back by the kitchen counter section. I always look, because you never know what great deal I'll just have to have. So I went back there to look, and the only poor, lonely, clearanced appliance was a GE washing machine. Which looked EXACTLY like the infamous GE washing machine *I* had a few months ago! I think it took me five minutes to stop laughing, while Ed cursed under his breath about GE washing machines.

My favorite color

My favorite color EVER is Red Bay by Sherwin-Williams. You can see it here - just search for it. I can't find a way to link directly to it. Anyways, Red Bay is also known as Harrington's Red (oh no, the secret's out!), as well as Keith's Old Room Red. And now, finally, Amy's Kitchen Red!!!! I have ALWAYS wanted a red kitchen, and now I have one! Obviously it's not finished - we still have to do the ceiling and the backsplash and under the chair rail, but so far I LOVE my kitchen! And I think it will only get better!

The joys of a new home

Well, we've been at our new place for one week. I've unearthed the dining room table (only to hide it again with new boxes of, er, stuff), located most of the living room, and got the TV and internet installed! We got up this morning with plans to go to Home Depot to get stuff we need, like a cat door for the basement door, tiles for the backsplash in the kitchen, a few other things... Ed and I were wandering around adding to our list, and Ed got the bright idea that the ceiling in the breakfast area was sagging. Yeah. My professional opinion was 1. it looked just like it always did and 2. if there's a problem, call the landlord - that's what they are for. Unfortunately, Ed doesn't agree with my professional opinion. Oh no. Instead, he had to go pushing and poking at the ceiling. You guessed it....



So now he gets to call the landlord and tell them about the hole in the ceiling. Fun. So wish me luck today - maybe he'll start listening to me for once!

The Big Day(s) Part One

Well, we moved this past weekend! Yeah... that was fun. Really. I think I should preface this whole post by saying I HATE MOVING. I hate packing, I hate moving, I hate unpacking... pretty much anything that has to do with moving. I do like picking out paint colors though. That's about the only good thing about moving. Oh, and I got a bigger kitchen. That's nice. But anyways. The actual moving part sucks. So we got up bright and early on Saturday morning, ready to move. Ed had brought a truck home from work Friday night (no, not a tanker - a truck you can move crap in), so we were ready to go. Ed's friend Dave came over bright and early and they loaded most of the furniture into the truck. They even dumped all the stuff in the couch cushions for me! All over the flower beds! This picture doesn't really do that mess justice though.



Can we say Sanford & Sons? That's what it looked like lol.





We got over to the new house around 10am. I was expecting Adam, who had spent most of the previous evening at the bar, to still be in bed, but SURPRISE, he was up and was wondering why we weren't there at 8am like I had told him. Um, Adam, I lie to you about what times things happen because you are ALWAYS late. By an hour at the least. That's why we weren't there at 8am - we were never going to BE there at 8am! It was all a lie! So we unloaded our stuff, and got Adam's stuff loaded. Packing isn't Adam's strong point -he seemed to miss the 'you need boxes to fill' rule of moving. But we got his stuff loaded and back to the old house. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. I think we made three trips to the new house with our stuff on Saturday. And during all three of those trips, all of the loading, unloading, packing, kids running around, all the chaos, the bunny just sat there. For the WHOLE day. Can we say rabies?



We moved the last few boxes late Saturday evening. I had Henry in his pajamas, ready to go, figuring he'd fall asleep before we hit route 1. Keith spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa's, so I didn't have to worry about TWO overtired little boys. I threw some open boxes in the back seat with Henry (really - I thought he'd pass out), drove the fifteen minutes to the new house, and opened the door to find a wide awake Henry who had found the open box of gallon ziplock bags. I think it was a big box of bags.



Come 10:30 Saturday night, I was EXHAUSTED (did I mention I'm pregnant? Really pregnant?!?), so we went up to our new room, flipped on the light switch, and nothing happened. Well, Ed's white shirt glowed like we were at a night club, but there was no light. You guessed it! Our bedroom came equipped with its very own black light!!! Now we could PARTY! So, being the old folk that we are, we went back downstairs to unearth a lamp out of all of the boxes etc. (read: crap). So we finally got to bed around 11pm.

Fast forward to 2:30am. You know how when you're in a new house, the tiniest noise wakes you up? Add in being pregnant, and really, a fly could have landed on my kitchen counter and I would have heard it. But no, it wasn't a fly. Instead I (only me - Edward was snoring away, oblivious to the world) wake up to hear someone trying to open the back door. Then they stop. Then I hear someone trying to open the front door. After I had a mild heart attack, I went downstairs (because Ed was, you know, SLEEPING) and find my brother standing in the hallway. Um, wrong house, dude. But no, Adam realized that he had left one VERY important item which he NEEDED at 2:30 in the morning at our house - his gallon of rum. Yeah. So he recovered the rum, and then started looking for an empty box. Why, you ask? He needed to save the bunny. Yup, the same bunny who was chilling by the mailbox all day - THAT bunny. That bunny was reminding me of the bunny in Monty Python at this point, and I was thinking Adam didn't want a box - he wanted a gun. But no, Adam had to save the bunny. At 2:30am.

Earth-Mother's Giveaway

Will wonders ever cease...

Yes, that is my son, scrubbing the bathroom floor. And grandma helping him, but she wouldn't get out of the way of the picture. Who would have thought that MY son would get excited by scrubbing the bathroom? He even said that in the new house, his job is going to be cleaning the bathrooms. I think I'm going to faint.