midnightscientist's Profile

We painted our nursery Valspar's jalapeno jelly after seeing Gus' room. We'd tried color sample after color sample, and thanks to the quality of light that room receives, nothing looked good. Even a fresh coat of white paint managed to look dirty, and I won't even mention what yellow paint looked like. But Gus' green...perfect. Great for a boy or a girl, and it's just so darn happy. It is bold, but we're balancing it out with lots of neutrals.

Our local news just posted a spring cleaning article that suggests you call animal shelters to see if they want your stuffies. Seems kitties like to play with them while they're waiting for adoption.

nenasajije, the website says that if you have sensitive skin (I do, and Gain was the only detergent---including several "free and clear" formulas---that I wasn't allergic to) to wash your clothes two or three times in Charlie's before wearing them. Something about removing the residues from your previous detergent, otherwise your clothes may be itchy. It sounds like a pretty big PITA. Just wondering if anyone else had this experience/followed those directions.

Experience has taught me to only loan out books that I don't care about getting back. I do love the robot bookplates, though.

I made a few of these using woodland fabric and these weird rubberized faux bois embroidery frames that Michaels had on sale. I unapologetically hate sewing, but I love fabric, so this was a very attractive idea. They look great, and they're also really cheap to make...almost free if you have a dedicated stash of fabric scraps. My husband loves the ones I made and keeps asking when we can hang them in the nursery (soon enough).

Ok, so our decision to have a baby wasn't exclusively based on the fact that we'd have an excuse to play with toys again, but it wasn't not a consideration, either. These look fantastic, and they're reasonably priced enough that we can have a set at home and a set at gram's (who will undoubtedly appreciate the fact that these look less painful to step on than Duplos/Legos).

Unless your friend is a Dugger, there's no reason not to celebrate her having another child. I'm guessing she just wants to get together with everyone to celebrate the birth of the second child and knows that people are going to bring gifts, even if she explicitly says not to. I'm making this assumption because this has happened at every single "no-gifts-please" baby shower/wedding shower/housewarming that I've ever attended.

Her request insures that she'll get something practical that she'll actually use, and while the diapers will eventually end up in the landfill, you can probably bet that whatever you give her that is unwanted will as well.

FWIW, I could easily judge you for using GDiapers instead of cloth. But that would be petty, right? So, either get over yourself, get some 'sposies and go, or don't go at all (because nobody wants to see the sour expression on your face when you notice the pile of disposable diapers that your friend has received).

I have mixed feelings. The lack of clutter appeals to the little girl in me that grew up in a very messy, cluttered home. As others have noted, however, the color gets me down. My bedroom was painted stark white when I was a kid and I hate-hate-hated it. I can promise you it did nothing to stimulate my imagination. The helicopters also get me. I know lots of boys who love anything that flies and have helicopters motifs in their rooms, but these are creepier than the clown paintings in my grandma's spare bedroom.

There IS a happy medium between either giving your house over to your kids or running it as a museum (the Ferris Bueller quote above nails it).

Rosie, now that I look at the built-in, I realize that it's the paneling behind it that I dislike so much...maybe it would work to just paint that. I really like the cabinet fronts, and a little contrast could really work.

Probably correlates with the study that says that a man doing his fair share of the chores increases a woman's desire to have sex with said man. I'm unemployed and expected to do at least 85% of the housework. Unfortunately, that percentage doesn't really change when I do have a job. When we visit our in-laws, it becomes glaringly obvious how my husband developed his attitude about household division of labor. When I visit my parents, it become glaringly obvious why I feel like I have to put up with it.