Harvery

I have always been someone who likes quirky cars.  My first car was a 1987 VW Golf.  Her name
was Patty and I loved her.  I loved her hatchback, I loved her crank sunroof, and I even loved when there was a short in the horn causing it to honk every time I turned the wheel.  Well, unless I was searching for a parking spot at the college dorms.  That was embarrassing. I said the only way I'd ever get rid of Patty is for a VW Cabrio.  So that's what happened.

Enter Lilly.  My dad located this lavender Cabrio my freshman year in college.  I wasn't sure about the color at first.  I mean, I like quirky, but that seemed a little much. But after owning Lilly, I really grew to love her lavender-ness. I really loved everything about Lilly.  I still miss her, especially on beautiful sunny days.

I love driving and I have so many fond memories with my friends, or just driving alone with the sunroof or top down, music blaring, and enjoying life. I really bonded with my cars and felt like they were an extension of me. So when I got married and we decided we needed something bigger and more reliable it was pretty rough. When we asked about trading in Lilly they said they'd scrap her. This was my dearest friend and I couldn't bear it, so we found a young girl who bought her for $500. At least I know she'd bring a little happiness to someone else for a while.

Jane.  Jane was a Jeep Patriot.  Perhaps her name is indicative of how I felt from her from day one.  Plain Jane. She served her purpose, but she was nothing special. I compare Jane to a college roommate. We were brought together by circumstance; we got along just fine and even had a few good times, but let's be honest, when this period of life is over we're going our separate ways and probably won't really keep in touch.

When Jane started showing her age (or her cheapness), it was time to consider what to do next. Like many a former VW fan I had turned my eyes on the Mini Cooper, but that doesn't necessarily fit the suburban mom lifestyle. I had just had a baby and it would make sense to size up as we were now a family of five, so I looked at all kinds of options that had third row seating. I had convinced myself that the benefits of the extra seating would be worth driving a very suburban SUV. You know, the kind with all the attributes of a van while refusing to actually be a van. I even test drove one.  But then I thought I'd test drive a Mini just to see if we could fit. Any you know what... Mini must know about suburban moms in denial. They made the Countryman just for us.  It has four doors, it seats 5, I could even fit the stroller in the back, but it still has all the character of a Mini. When we test drove it, they handed me the keys and said, "Take your husband. Put the car seats in and take your kids." So we did.  We all went for a test drive and I fell in love. I'll save you the details that followed, but suffice it to say, I ended up with Harvey. 

Harvey is everything I would want in a car. The kids love Harvey because he's fun and my husband loves Harvey because he's fun to drive. We have taken him on trips to Oklahoma with all five of us with no complaints. Yes, it's good to be in denial. So, to the "not a van" SUV that I probably should be driving, we will talk again in a few years. For now, it's me and Harvey (and the kids in the back seat) and I couldn't be happier.

My Love Affair With Free Shipping

As a busy mom with a full-time job time is my most precious resource.  While I still like to indulge in the material goodie now and then I don't really "go" shopping anymore as stores are really only open during my prime work and family times. If I can't get it at my Target during my 2 hour long post-bedtime grocery run, then I get it online.  Pretty much, that's how it works. 

Free shipping is something that I'm starting to demand.  I very rarely buy ANYTHING that costs more than $20, so I'm hardly ever willing to tack on a $5.99 shipping charge. I accidentally became an Amazon Prime member recently (forgot to cancel my trial subscription).  While I'm still not sure it's worth the price I've decided that since I paid it anyway I'm going to take full advantage.  But while Amazon has pretty much everything, it isn't always the cheapest and I'm a huge bargain hound.  So when shopping around free shipping is a must in order to beat Amazon's prices.  So I thought I'd share my favorite free shipping tips:

Target RedCard debit card (which is the greatest thing ever) is tied to your checking account so you don't have to worry about running up credit.  It saves you 5% off all purchases in the store AND online (and even on Target Ticket which I haven't yet fully explored).  In addition, you get Free Shipping on all online orders. So by the time you factor in a 5% discount and free shipping, they are pretty competitive with Amazon stuff.  Oh, and it doesn't cost me $99 a year for this benefit. As an additional perk you can register your card and select a K-12 school and Target will donate 1% of your purchases to that school. (Here if you have a card and need to do this).  As someone who (almost) always says no to store credit cards, I was on a Christmas shopping spree and I heard the clerk mention it was a debit card and I finally listened... and am so glad I did. Target, I love you! (How suburban is what I just said?!)  Amazon and Google may be trying to take over the world, but I'll bet Target could actually do it if they wanted to.  And I'd follow like a little sheep.

http://www.target.com/redcard/main

 One of my new loves is ShopRunner.  They are a subscription service that offers free two day shipping through several different stores.  While I'm not sold on paying for free shipping, if you have an American Express card you can sign up for this service for FREE!  Truly free 2-day shipping!  Yes Victoria, there is a Santa Claus and he delivers gifts to your door year-round. :)  And, for those of you who avoid buying on credit, you don't have to actually use your AmEx card to pay, you just have to have a card to get the perk of free membership then you can checkout with whatever form of payment you want.

They have a decent list of partners. I've used it for American Eagle, Delia's, Babies R Us, and Lord & Taylor, but they also include Nine West, Newegg, Tiger Direct, Radio Shack, and a bunch of other places.  Free shipping for free... the way I dreamed it would be.

https://www.shoprunner.com/americanexpress

Amazon.  You can pay the $99 to get free shipping on Prime items with the additional perks of video streaming, music streaming, and the like.  If you use these services or have a Kindle and live an Apple-free life it might be worth it.  I'm still undecided about paying for free shipping.  I'll re-evaluate next fall.  But even without Prime, some items do ship for free, you just have to pay attention to the shipping method and charges.

Of course other stores occasionally offer free shipping and many offer free shipping for orders over $x so you just have to hunt and wait.  But if you're looking for a random halogen light bulb, baby bottles, a certain item for a gift (all of which I've done in the last week) or things like that, it's nice to be able to shop around and just get what you need... from your bed in your PJs and have it delivered to your door for free... but that's just my opinion.

Undeniably Suburban DIY Nursery

So, baby Vera is at max just over 2 weeks away and I've had lots of fun decorating the nursery.  I did most of it DIY, which is pretty suburban, but what can I say, I'm crafty.  I feel a little bad because I did so much for her nursery and for my son's nursery a few years ago I just painted the room and slapped a couple pics on the wall, but oh well.  It was fun.  Also, I have a tendacy to under-decorate and to not put too much on the walls, but in this room I went a little crazy.  Here's a run down on the projects I did in her room and links to the tutorials I used. 

 

 

THUMBPRINT HEART WALL ART

 

My main idea for the nursery was to collect thumbprint hearts from our family and then have a poster or something made from them.  I figured I could do them in different colors (thanks Photoshop) and then decorate the room with bright colors. That was the main idea and inspiration for her room.

I loved the idea of having something so personal from her family and I love that thumbprints represent how we are all unique and that the hearts are all a little different and imperfect, but come together so well.  I collected the thumbprint hearts from our helpful family and arranged it all in Photoshop.  I was going to get a mounted print of some kind, then found that Snapfish offered acrylic and had a coupon so I went with it and... I love it! 

As an added bonus, I thought it might be cool to somehow add some light to it since it was acrylic.  I found a battery powered under cabinet LED light strip for under $15 at Wal-Mart and it included a remote.  Score!  Perfect way to check on the baby without turning on bright lights and it looks kinda cool in the dark.  I'm sure there are better ways to light it, but quick, cheap, and remote... I'm satisfied.  And I literally just set it on top so I can take it down any time I want.

 

 

 

  VINYL AND BUNTINGS

 

I really wanted some sort of accent wall, but refused to paint since our house is less than a year old.  So I turned to my Silhouette and vinyl (okay, that sounded SUPER suburban).  I cut out lots of vinyl clouds and put them all over the wall as well as a little cut out with her name on it.  Also, I do tend to love fabric buntings so I used my stash of thrift store t-shirts from my Etsy days to make some pennants to create a couple of rainbow colored buntings.  Upcylced and colorful.  

 

 

 

 BEDDING AND CURTAINS

 

For the bedding I ordered some custom fabric from Spoonflower.com using just the thumbprint hearts of our little family (I didn't have time to wait for extended family on this one).  I liked the idea of her being surrounded by our thumbprint hearts and it turned out nice for the bumper.  Generally I found bedding tutorials here.  I struggled a little to find a good bumper tutorial because I wanted to do the full length of the crib and not use the 6 pack of bumper inserts you can buy at craft stores, so the main bumper tutorial I used was this one.  I  picked some other bright colors for the opposite side of the bumper, the ties, and the crib skirt. I bough the crib sheets because I didn't want to mess with that, and really, Target has cute, cheap sheets, so why entertain the hassle. 

I originally intended to buy curtains but I couldn't find what I wanted.  After exhausting my options, I decided I'd just make the curtains myself,  I couldn't find the wide striped fabric I had envisioned, so I just went with chevron (my apologies to Vera if this completely dates her room in the future since chevron is big in the 'burbs these days).  The main benefit of DIY-ing the curtains was that I was able to do black-out lining and ultimately it did save a few bucks. 

 

CHALKBOARD PAINT AND PHOTOSHOP
 

To go over the crib, I painted little wood plaques from the craft store with chalkboard paint and printed big versions of our family's thumbprint hearts, then put our names under it in chalk.  I also made this little print to put in the middle and found a nice bright yellow frame for it.  It turned out cuter than I thought it might.

 

 

 And when looking for a quote for her room, I saw one on Pintrest that used these lyrics from the John Mayer song, "Daughters."  It seemed pretty perfect for her colorful room and our undoubtedly colorful gal-to-be (plus we love John Mayer around here) so I had to do an extra quote and I put it on her dresser.

 

 FUN WITH CARDSTOCK 

 My son didn't have a mobile in his room because I wasn't crazy about the ones in the store, but once I saw some cool versions online I decided that Vera needs one.  I made this one (which is actually a no-sew) by stringing cardstock to embroidery hoops - based on this tutorial.  I don't trust it enough to put it over her crib, but I put it where she can look at it during diaper changes. I also have a love for paper garland, so I got a heart punch and made some colorful heart garland to hang. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gender Reveal: The Party

Every good suburban mom likes to throw a party for her kids, and really, this is one thing I have never denied.  We had a little gender reveal party and I really view this as my baby's first party, even if it's still in my belly. :)  It was lots of fun.  We just had family over.  I had everyone take their pic at our little "photo booth" with either a mustache or lips for their predictions.  Then I Photoshopped this collage for the baby book.

I had these fun gender reveal confetti push pops.  I had really wanted some kind of confetti poppers and when I saw these on Etsy I thought they were great.  To make it even better, the ladies that run this Etsy shop live here in Johnson County, so I was able to arrange for local pick up and didn't have to pay for shipping.  (Here's their site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/genderreveal?ref=l2-shop-info-name.  They have a few other gender reveal items too.  Message them and they can probably set you up with local pick up.)

After a bit of a battle with a cranky 3 year old, we were finally able to get him to cooperate so we could all do the fun gender reveal together.  We all pushed our confetti revealers and the pink confetti went flying!  It's was lots of fun and a great way to share our news.  The little ones had some fun making angels in the confetti afterwards and it was actually quite a bit easier to clean up than I anticipated.  Overall, it was a great first party and a wonderful way to celebrate our girl with our family.

Undeniably a Gender-Finder-Outer

So, I'm pregnant and I have my sonogram this week and find out the gender (God willing).  There are definitely people who have different opinions about whether they want to find out.  This was never even a question with us.  Absolutely.  If I could find out the gender the moment I find out I'm pregnant, I would love it.

The main reason people from my camp tend to give is that they are "planners" and want to be prepared for the baby - decorate the nursery in a particular theme, buy clothes, etc.  Ok, I definitely feel this way, but I have friends in the "surprise" camp that identify as planners and certainly like to plan in other areas of their lives, so there has to be more to it.

Ultimately, I totally understand that people have different reasons for one or the other and I fully respect everyone's personal choices (though for my close friends that don't find out, I feel they do it just to stress me out).

So why am I adamant about wanting to know?  Here are my thoughts. First, the planning thing, definitely, but it's also a bit of a control issue.  I don't think I'm a super controlling person (or I wouldn't have married my rowdy Okie husband... there's no controlling that guy), but, well, I do like to be in control of my own life and know what is going to happen and prepare for it. It's one of my faults, I know.

The other thing I've realized is that most parents-to-be seem to be "miracle" people - those who from the day they find out they're pregnant see that it is all a miracle and are grateful for each bout of morning sickness and look forward to an all natural child birth.  I am not one of those people.  Wish I was, know I should be, but I'm just not. The first time I was pregnant I was terrified.  I was terrified of what being pregnant would be like, what this whole birth thing would entail, and whether I was up to parenting an infant.  Even with an easy pregnancy, I was probably more scared than excited.  It was all just weird to me.  As a result, I think it was harder for me to connect with "it" than it is for all those "miracle" people out there.  I read the books and got the emails to help me know what to expect, but those were even worse.  Learning that my baby was now covered in fur and cheese or that its ears were starting to move to the side of its head (ew, where were they before?) didn't really help the whole bonding thing and reading about all the gross and horrible things that could happen (as though child birth didn't sound horrible enough) was even more terrifying. 

However, finding out that this baby they said I had inside of me was a boy created a whole different feeling.  Now this was my son.  We could give him a name.  I could start imagining what he would be like.  I could talk about "him." I could get his nursery ready and buy clothes for my little boy.  It made it much easier for me to bond with my unborn child and to get excited about the whole thing.  He went from being this weird parasitic thing inside of me that after months of discomfort should eventually be a baby, to becoming my son... now it wasn't "it", it was Beck, and well, we were pretty tight from that point on.

I still feel like pregnancy and child birth are more the curse of Eve than a miracle, but ultimately, I love the outcome, so I'll bear your curse Eve in order to bring another precious little thing into the world and into our family.  Oh, but I am so thankful that modern technology lets me know if its a son or a daughter so I can get the kick-start I need.  So, here's to hoping this baby shows the goods at our sono!

Chansons en Francais?

In my urban existence I used to see these foreign language schools for children in Chicago.  I decided my future kids would definitely attend such a program.  After all, the number one thing I hear people say they wish they knew how to do was to speak a foreign language.  However, living in suburban Johnson County, I have found that these fancy places are basically non-existent and that foreign language programs for preschoolers are inaccessible to working parents, unless your preschool happens to offer something.  So, I really want to expose my kids to foreign languages... what's a suburban, non-bilingual, working mom to do?

Well, my son and I love music and I took some French classes in high school and college so I scoured iTunes for some super basic French kid songs... so that I could understand enough to tell him what the songs were about.  So far it's been a success - he loves listening to them and can even sing a few.  I don't expect my son to be fluent in French, but the idea is to expose him to it.  Yes, I'd prefer to get my kids into a program where they could really learn the language, but I'll have to settle for what I can offer.

I thought I'd share a couple of our favorite French kid songs.  If you've had a semester of French at any point in your life, chances are you can get the gist of most of these (and when in doubt, the internet often has translations)

< My all time favorite is "Mon Corps" from the album "Wiggleworms Love You"  It's a song about the music you can make with your body
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mon-corps/id114311167?i=114310811

"Nage, Nage, Nage"  by Hannah Naiman >
A short little song I learned in high school French class about a little fish who is eaten by a barracuda, who is eaten by a shark, who is eaten by a whale.  What's not to love?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/savez-vous-planter-des-choux/id402376582

< The album "Bilingual Songs: English-French, Vol 1" by Sara Jordan Publishing is cool (please ignore the lame looking cover art) because they actually sing all the lines in French and English... so you can be certain what they are saying.  Here are our favs from this album:
Colors / Les Couleurs
Days of the Week / Les Jours de la Semaine
Counting to 10 / Compter Jusqu'à 10
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/sara-jordan-publishing/id275409452

Classic French songs we like are from "Chansons et Comptines de Notre Enfance"  It's where we get "Alouette" and "Frere Jacques"  >
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/chansons-et-comptines-notre/id307174317

If you have any other good ones, let me know!

BTW, if you know of foreign language programs in Johnson County that offer weeknight or Saturday classes for preschoolers, please let me know that too.  Any language is acceptable. :)

Cheerleader Menality

I was a high school cheerleader.  I know, that's pretty suburban, right?  Well I've found that the cheerleader dies hard.  Not only do I still maintain an unhealthy personal fondness for all things SM West (not that I miss high school, I just love West), but I suffer from cheerleader mentality.

Basically I'm a fan of anyone and anything that has crossed my path and not been terrible.  I realized this when I was describing to my husband why I love Facebook. 

That person who I haven't seen since 8th grade... they're in a Broadway show! 

That guy who sat 3 rows down from me in my geometry class... he just had a baby! 

That girl from my law school that I haven't seen since graduation... she just opened her own firm!

  All of this sounds ridiculous to my husband.  "You haven't talked to these people in years.  Why do you care?"  Well, I figured it out.  The cheerleader dies hard.  I like to see people succeed.  I like to hear about the victories in their lives and to cheer them on (you know, by "liking" their posts and bragging to whomever might slightly care).  It doesn't matter that I haven't seen or talked to them in years.  If I have even the loosest connection to them they are obviously awesome and worthy of success and happiness.  If that creeps you out, unfriend me, because I am secretly (or not so secretly) cheering for you.

Oh, and if I find something I love, I want to share it.  So hopefully I can do that through posts on this blog.  By the way, if you're reading this, then you're officially awesome and I'm cheering for you!

 

Undeniably Suburban: The Moment of Truth

So when did my suburban-ness become undeniable? 

 

As a suburbanite with kids, some things you have to think of when you buy a house - yard, schools, neighborhood, bedrooms, etc. - were starting to become apparently lacking in our former house.  I loved our former house.  It was a wooded half-acre lot with tongue-in-groove ceiling, metal fireplace, and a generally unique design.  Sure, it had TONS of problems and needed lots of work we couldn't afford (but had to do anyway when we sold it), but it had a unique and cool aspect that helped me in my denial.

 

Our house sold in 2 days!  However, house hunting for our third house together proved significantly more difficult than the last two.  Mostly due to my husband eyeing suburban comforts and me refusing to have a cookie cutter house in an ultimate suburban neighborhood.  When my husband starting turning his nose up at every house older than 5 years or without a 3 car garage (seriously!) I quickly learned we were facing homelessness.  Do we get an apartment and continue to look while probably never agreeing on anything, or... do I give up on my personal taste and get an ultimate suburban house that's "great for the kids?"

 

Yep, you guessed it.  See when you're a true suburbanite, house hunting involves one overall concern:

 "a great place to raise kids." 

New neighborhood with lots of kids? (check)

Neighborhood pool? (check)

Close to "award winning schools?" (check)

Not too close to any questionable neighborhoods, businesses, or busy streets? (check)

Nice yard to play in, but not so big it takes too much time to mow? (check)

3 car garage for all your toys and junk? (check)

And if you can get it never-lived-in and able to pick your own finishes (aka "building") all the better.

 

So, since I didn't want to move into temporary housing, we found a home under construction and jumped in to pick our finishes from that point on.  The day we decided to put an offer on this house... I broke down.  I felt like I was betraying everything that I had thought I was.  Chicago was far behind me and I was about to put an offer on a cookie-cutter house with stucco in the ultimate suburban neighborhood.  Was I really this person? 

Enter realization: yes I was... because it was a great place to raise kids. 

I had a small mourning period - mourning the loss of "cool" me and preparing for soccer mom me.  It helped that an urban friend (and former suburbanite) comforted me by calling my spec home a "spec-tacular" home and we were able to avoid a couple of typical Johnson County finishes and add a couple of cool light fixtures.  But at this point I knew it was true.  I was undeniably suburban.  

Undeniably Suburban: My Story

So... I spent most of my growing up days in suburban Kansas City.  It's undeniably suburban.  In college (K-State), I studied abroad and fell in love with traveling... and also with urban life.  So I went to law school in Chicago (Loyola Chicago) and fell IN LOVE with that city.  I studied abroad again (solidifying my commitment to travel and big cities) and then... fell in love with a boy. Not a big city boy, but a small town boy from Oklahoma... oh, and he had a daughter so he wasn't portable - meaning I had to choose either him and his sweet daughter or Chicago.

So, since I found the only thing I found that I loved more than Chicago, I packed up my Wrigleyville apartment (in a horse trailer none-the-less), moved to Tulsa, and married this rowdy Okie.  Marriage and children had never really crossed my mind before him, so I was a little surprised by myself.  I guess love can do that to you.  A few years later, we relocated to suburban Kansas City and I find myself here again.

In 2010 we had a little boy and now I'm pregnant again (like roughly 35% of the other suburban women between the ages of 25 and 35 walking around).

My life is... undeniably suburban.  I say this because I have tried to live in denial.  I have tried to be cool and pretend I'm still hip and a little urban for the last several years of my life... but I'm not.  I've come to realize: I'm undeniably suburban.