Feeling Crafty & Thrifty

It seems like ever since I became a mom that I have a hawk eye for finding toys on the side of the road that no one wants anymore.  I found Nugget's John Deere riding toy in the neighbor's trash pile and all that was wrong with it was that it needed a new charger and battery ($60ish), I found old school Tonka metal dump trucks, and yesterday, what at first I thought was a major score, a train table compatible with the Thomas wooden trains.  Nugget is a huge, and I mean huge Thomas fan.  She knows the Roll Call song, knows the name of every one of Thomas' friends, and could probably watch the show 24/7 if I let her.  So when I saw the train table on the side of the road on our way home from daycare, I did a 180 attempted to load it up in the car.  In my adrenaline rush I failed to notice that the tabletop was trashed, there were parts missing, and the table itself wasn't in the best of shape, but dang it, I got that table in the jeep complete with the kids, packages I needed to ship, and groceries, and I was proud!

After finding the train table online with a little Google-fu, I discovered that when it was new it was selling for almost $200.  In the end, I'm not going to be able to salvage the top, there's just too much yucky sticky stuff on it, but I can save the tracks and bridge it had on it and keep the table base. The table base needs a good cleaning and tightening of the screws.  What I'm probably going to do (and hopefully I'll find time before August which is Nugget's birthday) is buy some plywood, either felt or low pile AstroTurf, some sand, plexiglass, and type of paint that I can make to look like water and make Nugget her very own one-of-a-kind train table.  When my brother and I were kids we had our own HO scale train set and I built most of the buildings, so this should come natural, right?  Well, after hauling that damn table home, I am determined to make this work!  haha

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Invasion of the ladybugs!

Say hello to our leetle friends...

Our house has apparently become a haven for Japanese lady beetles this winter.  I first noticed them in November when they were all clustered at the peak of the ceiling in our livingroom and until I used the binoculars on them, I thought I had a black mold problem.  The peak of the ceiling is at least 20 feet tall, so unless I got out a ridiculously tall ladder and ventured up there with my hand vacuum, they weren't going anywhere.  Eventually they disappeared and I thought that was the end of them.  The end of them that is until last week.

For some reason, they are drawn to Nugget's room.  They are EVERYWHERE.  On her humidifier, in her dresser, on her windows, on the floor, on her owl nightlight; it's beyond ridiculous!   I tried crushing them, but they leave a brownish-yellow stain and also let out a unpleasant odor.  Did I mention that they bite?  While reading Nugget bedtime stories the other night, one crawled up my pant leg and chomped down on me. So yeah, other than bug bombing the house (which is not going to happen) I guess we are going to be stuck with our invaders for awhile.  I think I'm going to have the hubby crawl around on the roof come spring and look for places these little buggers are coming in and plug the holes with caulk.  Maybe until then I can get a few carnivorous plants and start feeding the lady beetles to them for fun or is that a tad twisted?

My little guy is growing up

I installed "big boy" car seats in both vehicles today and put the "bucket" seat in the basement for now until I decide what to do with it.  It's bittersweet to me because this means that in a little under two months, Hank will be a year old.  My "baby making" days are behind me, and as much as I loved being pregnant, it's not worth the risks for me or any potential spawn.  My age, risk of birth defects, the sizes of the babies, and injuries to me outweigh my desire to be pregnant again.  The hubby and I did talk about it, and if by chance I still have the baby itch in a year or so perhaps we could foster/adopt a child.

I've also had to run around the house and start re-baby proofing everything.  Hank is pretty mobile and cruising next to any object that he can pull himself up on and walk around.  He's also managed to get into Nugget's crayons on her art table, the pantry, and the cats food dishes when I've had my back turned for a moment.  There are few things freakier than looking at your 10 month old with rainbow colored teeth.

Other than that, I am getting tired of being cooped up in the house because it's too cold to take Hank out to play with Nugget.  I know she's feeling the same way.  We've been doing lots of dancing to the Spotify playlist I made for her to help beat the boredom and make car rides more fun.  Her favorites are anything Yo Gabba Gabba, Elmo, and Pharrell's "Happy."