Random Friday

    We had a great Fourth of July here at the Kentucky Rumely household. Tim's best childhood friend Josh is in town to visit us through Saturday afternoon, so it was nice to have someone to celebrate the holiday with. He is helping Tim with some of our household projects too, which is great. We spent the Fourth of July hanging around the house, grilling burgers and turkey dogs and munching on baked beans and a pasta salad with lots of veggies. Owen ate his first hotdog and loved it. Though when we tried to feed him half of his leftover hotdog for lunch the next day, he refused to eat it. Go figure. We went to a local park to watch fireworks and had a fun time. Owen danced to music played by the live band. The fireworks didn't start until after 10, so we had a really sleepy boy on our hands, but he really loved watching the fireworks. He sat in either mine or Tim's laps during them and kept smiling and laughing. After a late bedtime (11 p.m.!), Owen slept until 9 a.m. the next morning. 
     In other news, I am putting a super awesome gift in the mail to my brother-in-law and his wife today. They closed on their house a week ago and I wanted to send them something fun to their new address. Because who doesn't love getting mail (besides bills)?
     Anyway, here is what's going on with us this week. 

1. I'm a winner!
     I want to preface this by saying that I never win anything. Well, actually that's not true. I did once win a sweepstakes by Seventh Generation, but that was back in Washington and we moved before my prize could arrive. Just my luck. I still enter contests and sweepstakes all the time for some of my favorite companies (like Julep, Citrus Lane, and Umba Box), but after submitting my name or a photo or whatever I have to do to enter, I generally don't think about it again. So yesterday night when I was scrolling down my newsfeed, I was so surprised when I saw a post by Citrus Lane that said, "A round of applause for Jessica Rumely, who won today's first Photo Scrapbook daily drawing! Jessica has won one of our coveted "retired" boxes - this Thanksgiving box from November 2011!" The box that I won includes two pairs of See Kai Run organic socks, an Ella's Kitchen smoothie fruits squeeze pouch, Innobaby Din Din stainless divided plate, Cleanwell Hand Sanitizer Spray, and the book "In My Patch." I'm really excited about winning an extra box this month. I have subscribed to Citrus Lane for the next six months because they have a special deal right now to receive 20 percent off, which when combined with the deal they already have for a longer subscription means I get 33.3 percent off a month by month charge. Yay! If you're interested in trying Citrus Lane, use the code 20BOX through July 7 for 20 percent off your subscription. Here's my link if you want to help me get referral points. 

2. What's On My Nook.
     I'm now reading "Timepiece" my Myra McEntire, the second book in the Hourglass series. The interesting part about this book is that it is told from the point of view of a different character than the narrator of the first book. The main character in the second book is Kaleb and I'm really interested to learn more about him. Here's the synopsis from Amazon: "Kaleb Ballard was never supposed to be able to see ripples—cracks in time. Are Kaleb’s powers expanding, or is something very wrong? Before Kaleb can find out, Jonathan Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, reappears. Why is he back, and what, or whom, does he want? In the wake of Landers’s return, the Hourglass organization is offered an ultimatum by a mysterious man. Either they find Landers and the research he has stolen on people who might carry the time gene, or time will be altered—with devastating results for the people Kaleb loves most. Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their extraordinary powers to find Landers. But where do they even start? And when? Even if they succeed, just finding him may not be enough. . . "

     I also bought "The Next Best Thing" by Jennifer Weiner. The story is about a scriptwriter for a television series dealing with arrogant actors and demanding network executives while falling for her boss. I haven't started reading it yet, but it's next up on my list. Jennifer Weiner's books are typically pretty good, though they don't always have happy endings. My favorite of her books is "Little Earthquakes." It is about a group of pregnant women with nothing else in common except that they are in the same lamaze class and how they become friends and adjust to motherhood. I read it a few months after having Owen and laughed so hard at some parts and cried at others. I think it is definitely a book that someone who has just had a baby should read. 

3. Little boy blue.
    Owen's room was the first room in our house to be painted recently. It used to be a really drab green color, but we decided to brighten things up with a pretty blue. If you remember, Owen's room in our house in Washington was a bright light green, but we thought we would change things up a bit. The color we chose is from Valspar's Waverly Collection and is called July Sky. I had it colormatched to Olympic's ONE paint, which includes primer and is low VOC. We bought it in the eggshell enamel finish and it is so pretty. I can't wait to hang all of Owen's art in his room. We just have to decide where to put everything since the walls are different sizes here than in his first nursery. 

Don't mind the painter's tape. 

4. Fourth of July manicure.
    I used my free America nail polish that I got from Julep in my July monthly box. I loved it! The formula was a little clumpy because of all the glitter, but it wasn't too hard to apply to my nails. Some people have complained on Julep's Facebook page that their polishes didn't have any silver stars in it, but mine has plenty. In fact, I think I got at least six when I painted my nails on July 4. I didn't have a top coat to apply to it, so it has gotten chipped some, but I think with a top coat that this polish would last for a while. I'm definitely not looking forward to trying to take it off because of the glitter, but I did enjoy having a holiday-themed nail polish and it was a fun extra in my July Julep Maven Box. 

5. Tearing it up.
     The most recent in our list of house projects is to replace the boards on our back deck. The wood is really splintery and one of the steps broke in half the other week. Tim and his friend Josh have taken crowbars to it for the past two days and will begin replacing the boards today. We love hanging out on our porches (front and back) and will be so happy when the back porch is safer and prettier. We also have plans to extend the deck outward at some point because it is smaller than we would like, but there isn't a really good way to add to the sides. I'll post pictures when the deck is finished. 

6. Brave.
    While my parents were in town last weekend, they agreed to watch Owen for us so that we could go see a movie together. I just love seeing movies: watching something on the big screen, smuggling in snacks, seeing previews... (Keep an eye out for "Wreck-it Ralph" by the way, because it looks so funny). We ended up seeing the Disney Pixar movie Brave because there wasn't much out that we wanted to see and it was on at the best time for us. The movie was actually pretty cute. It was a little different than I expected. Unlike most Disney movies, it is not a romance and is in fact more about a mother-daughter relationship and about how the main character and her mother learn to listen to one another and see eye to eye. It was pretty funny. I love Kevin McKidd's (from Grey's Anatomy) voices in the movie. He voices a father and son, the latter of the two cannot be understood at all and it is so funny. I also loved the main character crazy curly red hair. All in all, Tim and I both liked it, though at the end he looked over at me and said, "But who did she marry?" So if you're hoping for a romance, look elsewhere.

7. Painting the kitchen/living room
     I think we have finally made up our minds on paint colors. We have chosen Benjamin Moore's Gray Horse for our kitchen/dining area/hallway and Benjamin Moore Moonshine for our living room. They look the best on our walls and with our lighting. I can't wait to see our kitchen with new paint on the walls. The teal green color in there is so distracting and loud. I am excited to see what a more neutral color will look like in there. I will of course post pictures when we finish painting. 

Benjamin Moore "Gray Horse."

Benjamin Moore "Moonshine."

8. The Force Is Strong With This One.

     I don't know if you've run across this on Pinterest or not, but I think it is so very cute. It's My Jedi Quiet Book, a cloth book of little activity pages intended to entertain a toddler quietly while you're out and about. And it's Star Wars themed! I have loved Stars Wars ever since I was about 10 years old when my uncle Rick watched them with me for the first time in his house in Florida (with surround sound, ooh). This book has so many cute little pages, for example one where you "fix" C3PO by attaching his body parts to little snaps on a page and another where you unzip the Dagobah Forest to find Yoda. You can buy a PDF of the pattern on Etsy. There is also a Star Trek version as well.