Sam's Mom's Design Co.

This post is dedicated to Sandi & Autumn and all the other "crafty beaver" moms out there.

Sandi has convinced me that I can get back into sewing. I used to be quite good (1st place blue ribbons at many a county & state fair in my day.) But I stopped in my 20s, and haven't picked it up since. Once we decided to adopt, I knew I had the time, and finally the dedication, to start some sewing project. Last Christmas, my fabulous husband GREGG (he says I don't use his name enough in posts) got me a new fancy-schmancy Singer, and for my B-Day a fully-stocked sewing box. So I have no excuses left.

I'm bringing up the sewing machine from the basement this week (I know I've said this before, but this time I really mean it). My first project is a pair of valances for the Nursery. I have started a design book ('cause I'm insanely organized) for project ideas, fabrics, colors, patterns, etc. Above are the first 2 pages for Sam's valances. I got out the colored pencils and matched them to the room colors, so we couldn't mess up the fabric too much. I glue-sticked fabric swatched and noted the price per yard, for comparison at the store. We checked out patterns, but decided we didn't need one, because I just want to do a very simple pocket valance w/ a 1 1/2 inch rod & 2x fullness. You can see the diagram/pattern to figure out my yardage. We decided on the beige/green microsuade w/ bronze/carmel leaf pattern. (ie: the large swatch). My camera didn't take the clearest of pictures, but believe me, the fabric is GORGEOUS!!! I'm going to do a chocolate satin ribbon band on the bottom to give a finished look, and will pair w/ pale-beige shears.

I am SOOOO excited to get started. I just need to pick up my fabric, drapery backing, and notions.

The next project: Toddler Tees w/ quilted designs. Okay, I stole the idea off something I saw on Etsy.com, but I'm not going to sell them so I think it's okay.

Big THANKS to the amazing Sandi Brown (ie: Paul's mom) -- who is coaching me along the way and believes I can truly sew a quilt before Sam comes home!

Animals on Parade

So -- after such a positive AM blog, I had a tough day w/ problems w/ the Foster license due to DCFS having a meeting on Friday and changing some rules. But I got excellent support from my WSW, my hubby, and my ETH parent friends on our Yahoo groups and feel much better now. I am even going to empower myself and call some folks in Springfield to see what we can do to change some of these rules.

In the meantime, the EllyNelly decals were delivered today (off the Etsy.com site). I put up 1 wall of the Animals on Parade in the nursery. We will have to order another set to finish the other 1/2 of this wall (beyong the window well.) But you can see the results above. The walls are a buttery yellow, and I had too much flash in the picture so it looks more white. The decals are chocolate brown. I LOVE IT!!!

The right way to start October

It has been a tough couple of weeks for the DeZuttis. Primarily because our homestudy is MIA, but of course other issues are present. We have found that life does not stop for adoption (gosh, that should be a tee-shirt.) But we are rallying together and pulling through.

Here are some great things that happened in the first 5 days of the month:

1. CHI families received 5 referrals this week. Wooo-Hoooo!

2. I finished Sam's dresser. See above photos.

3. Sam received his/her first book -- a recycled copy of "Good night moon" from our friends Kim & Francis (& new baby Maddy!) We love recycled books, clothing, furniture, you name it. Yeah environment!

4. I spent the weekend @ my sisters visiting. I had tons of quility time w/ "my girls." Manda & Bryan had the time (since I was babysitting) to drive about 45 mins out and pick up the bunk beds they had ordered several weeks back. We even had time to assemble the bunks today. See above pictures.

5. Liv was really affectionate with me. This was the 1st time for her. I think it's been a little hard with Liv, because she is SO different than Em. Em is a complete love-bug and Liv isn't. Unless your name is Mommy, and even that doesn't work all the time. Liv is a very serious child, and does not like to smile a lot for me. This weekend I felt like we had a real breakthru. She wanted ME to push her on the swing, and ME to carry her, and ME to get her dressed in the morning. She does not cuddle, but she did sit on my lap for a while -- which is huge! She even called me "An Mae-Mae" and gave me kisses when I left. My heart was singing!

6. Em decided she would be okay if "little baby" is a boy. Before she was not. We talked about the fact that Little Bear, Franklin, and Handy Manny are all boys, and she likes them, so she decided a little boy baby would be acceptable. A girl is still preferrable. About 20 times this weekend, she said "Aunt Mae, I have secret" I would come close and she would say "I love you beary, beary much!" This kid makes my heart melt!

7. When I came home tonight, my wonderful hubby and I danced in the living room in our socks, while singing our song, "Nice & Easy" (Sinatra). I love him beary, beary much! October is a pretty great month so far.

Interior Decor

DISCLAIMER -- the above is from the EllyNelly Etsy.com site and does not depict our home. I am not nearly apt enough at home decor to be able to put together a bedroom like that! END OF DISCLAIMER.

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that we have completely failed regarding our bedroom. Sure, there is a gorgeous cherry sleigh bed & furniture in there, but just plain blue walls and plain blue curtains (which I haven't even hemmed) and that's it. Very, very boring. I mean, it's great for sleeping, but could really be jazzed up a bit.

So, we are going to paint (uhh-hem, our friend Sasha is going to paint) a lovely green color called "Asparagus." We would normally paint, but we have some plaster problems and Sasha has to repair the wall, so it's easier to just have him paint as well. Then, I'm thinking of using the above "tribal" decals from EllyNelly @ Etsy.com for above the bed. I think it will really add a lot of character to the room. (I think I'll get 2 paks and do 2 rows above the headboard.)

For the nursery, I'm thinkink of the "jungle" decals above. Don't know for sure, but I think I want to use as a "chair rail" border. I think it would be super-cute and will go with the bedding without being too "loud". Now given my personalilty and proclivity for the audible arts, it would seem crazy, but I'm actually really afraid of a "loud" nursery.

I'm also checking out some more fabrics for the curtains. We found a subtle maize yellow/cream stripe, but Gregg wants to look some more before I purchase/sew. Of course, whatever we do has to match w/ my favorite thing in the room (until baby Sam arrives!) which is the "Piece of Africa" quilt by my friend Sandi. Because of that, I think I'll play off the quilt and do the "jungle" decals in chocolate, which should look amazing on the soft yellow walls.

I know what you are thinking..."hey Meg, have you cleared out the basement and moved the spare furniture down there so you have room for nursery furniture?" Of course, the answer is a big fat NO WAY. We HAVE to get on this, but I keep on finding other, more "fun" projects. (sewings and refinishing furniture is way better than cleaning out a basement!) The basement is going to be my October project. I really think we can make progress and get this going.

It's 3:30 and yes that's a glass of wine

So, it's 3:30 in the afternoon, and I have a lovely glass of red beside the computer. to prove I'm not being melodramatic, see above picture -- the stove clock is my witness!

Why, you ask, am I having a glass of wine before 5 pm? Because, my friend, in the world of ETH adoption, mommy's aren't allowed Ativan. It seems the ETH gov't (bless them, bless them, bless them for allowing us to adopt their orphans) see prescription antidepressants in a slightly more negative light than we do in the States. I know what your thinking... "Gosh, if you are infertile and you work with 5 Fertile Mertyls at the office, wouldn't anyone be a bit depressed?" I cannot answer that question in the global sense, but this mommy-to-be sure has her Blue days. This is one of them. In fact, it's almost turquoise over here.

I haven't heard from the SW since 9/15, and that was an email telling me that the server at the office had been down for 2 days, so she would be getting my homestudy out on Friday, not Wednesday. On Friday I emailed...On Monday I emailed...Today I emailed and called. I know this is not our biggest wait, but it seems to me the homestudy is the biggest hurdle, and once that's done everything else is pretty routine paperwork. We have been vetted by local, state, and fed gov't, and approved by our agency. "The homestudy is connected to the 171-H, and the 171-H is connected to the Visa, and (everyone sing in tune w/ "dem bones!") without the Visa you don't travel!" So everything hangs in balance waiting for the homestudy.

Now, I am sure that our SW is overworked and underpaid because, lets face it, anyone who does an important job for families (teachers, daycare workers, nurses, speech therapists, stay at home mommies, etc, etc) is overworked and underpaid. BUT I am shelling out $2500 for this report, so I would like to see a little hussle! We had our first home visit 6-23, and our follow-up to discuss the 40 pages of essay questions in mid August. It's now almost October.
I would really like a return call, or an email, or a copy of the freakin' homestudy in my mailbox, the original of which has been forwarded to DCFS for approval!!!

LONG SIP FROM THE WINE GLASS.
REPEAT.

Okay, I'm calmer now.

So -- what I'm doing positive to keep busy & not freak out about the late homestudy:

1. Praying. I'm praying for all obstacles to be removed, so the homestudy can be completed, approved, certified, and forwarded to USCIS in a timely fashion. I'm praying for all obstacles to be removed so we are united with our child as soon as possible. I'm praying for healing if our child's biological mom/dad/etc. are sick and/or hungry, (please don't be true) our child is sick and/or hungry. I'm praying for compassion so I don't get jealous of other moms/babies/moms-to-be.

2. Moved the rocker/recliner upstairs to the nursery. See above picture. Believe it or not, this rocker/recliner was "rescued" (ie: liberated) from a dumpster some 15 years ago during my Purdue days. It was used as found, in a lovely nubby brown & blue plaid, smelling of beer and cigars, for a year. Then it was steam cleaned and used with a floral slip cover for several years. When I moved to Chicago I finally had the money to have it re-upholstered professionally. I loved the job they did, but shortly thereafter got a cat, who wasn't declawed, and the back of the recliner became quickly juilianned into fine strips. About 3 years ago, we had it re-upholstered again, in the current fabric. I love, love, love the fabric! Its been sitting in the basement, with all the other FFBM (furniture from before marriage) since then. Thankfully, Jazz (the offending cat) currently wears kitty nails, so she cannot damage furniture or people. You'll notice my Piece of Africa quilt prominently displayed on the recliner. Doesn't it look gorgeous?! Next to the recliner is the child chair my Uncle Walter made me when I was born. Even though it says "Megan" I'm hoping my kids will use and love as much as I do.

3. Found the trim piece I want for the dresser. Will pick it up on Sunday from HD, along with some more poly. I had mistakenly poly'd several times this week, but because of humidity, there are bubbles in the finish. So, I need to do a light sanding and open a new can, and make sure the humidity is below 40%. I may just bring it in the house, poly w/ the windows open, and then crank the AC. The knobs we picked out will be available at Lowes next week.

4. I'm going to finally!!! bring my sewing machine upstairs and plop it on the dining room table. We NEVER eat in there, so it's really a giant in-box for mail, books, phones, and medical records I need to reveiw. I figure if the sewing machine is upstairs staring at me, I'm likely (uhem, more likely) to actually get off my duff and use it.

5. To aide with #4, I'm going to measure and pick out material for the nursery curtains. I think I'm going to do 1 full across per window, and use some nice gro-grain ribbon for tie-backs (or maybe make ties out of the fabric scraps?) We have full blinds, so the curtains are pure decoration.

Okay, I'm feeling better already. I'll be productive and it will make the time more bearable.
Thanks for listening to my rant.

Searching for Knobs

Yes friends, this is a G rated posting!

We have been searching for the knobs for Sam's dresser for some time (well before I started the process of refinishing the piece.) At first, I was overwhelmed with the choices, but the prices quickly narrowed our focus.

Even though we are saving $$$ by refinishing the piece rather then buying new, I didn't want to go crazy and spend $200-300 on knobs. Believe it or not, this can happen. I have 8 drawers w/ 2 knobs each. We found many, many knobs on HomeDepot.com and Lowes.com for $8-22/ a piece. Yes, you did the math correctly, that $128-$352 for knobs. I was shocked.

So our parameters were: something round, dark (the drawer faces are a honey/bamboo color), nothing silver or gold-toned. I didn't think I wanted wood, because I want the dresser to have some personality. But I also wanted something simple, and somewhat timeless. Oh, and under $4/piece.

Last night, like magic, Tah-Dah!! we found the right knobs. They are ceramic, very reasonably prices, and should coordinate well with the nursery and beyond. (Oh my gosh! someday I'll have a teenager!) Even though they are technically flowers, I think they work for a boys room, as they could be interpreted as the sun. They are simple, & we really like them.

I'm putting a bit of felt between the knobs & the drawer fronts, to prevent scratching, so we can switch the knobs out to give the dresser a fresh look in the years to come.

Sam's Dresser Part III

Okay -- I think I finally got it right. I ended up mixing the Ebony & Red Chestnut and putting on 2 coats, hand rubbed. This makes 4 coats on the sides and frame and I think it's perfect. The wood is not perfect, so some places are darker than others -- you can definitely tell its an old piece, but that's just fine. When I put on a couple of coats of semi-gloss poly to seal it, it will bring out the wood grain more. I put 3 coats of "Special Oak" on the top and drawer faces. I wanted a yellow w/ a touch of green, because we are using bamboo baskets in the changing table, so it will coordinate nicely w/o being matchy-matchy. With several coats of poly, it should be pretty durable. I hope Sam likes the dresser -- as the wood really soaked up the stain, there is no way you are ever getting the stain out. Unless we paint it -- this is the way it will look for the lifetime of the dresser.

When I poly it, and find drawer pulls, I'll photograph again so you can see the finished product.

Piece of Africa Quilt

For those of you who love the quilt as much as we do, I added a link to Sandi's Esty shop on the right. I wish I could take credit, but alas it is Sandi's creative creation, not mine. Although, I like to think if I could quilt I would have made a piece like this for Sam.

So here's my little commercial bit: The quality of this quilt is amazing! It's machine washable (gentle) and dryable (fluff air/ low). The stitching if very small & close and its quite durable. The fabrics are very soft, and each have a texture of their own (the design has a texture) so I think it will be stimulating for Sam both by touch and sight. The colors are very rich and vivid, but not harsh. Sandi has other items for sale, and quilts a lot so I'm sure there will be new items on her site. If you absolutely much have the quilt we got for Sam, she has a toddler/crib quilt version avail. This has the cut-out of Africa in the center. The only reason we did not get the crib quilt is because we already have Sam's bedding picked out and family wants to buy for us. We will use the lap quilt on the rocker for snuggling, story time, and floor time.

In case you cannot tell, I'm super excited about this quilt and am dreaming of seeing Sam on it. Of coure, when he is, we'll take and upload pictures! But that's probably at least 6 mos away.

2nd thoughts -- Sam's dresser regrets?

Okay, the more I'm looking at the crib, the darker I'm thinking it is. So, maybe I need to add a coat (hand rubbed, not brushed on, so I get a lighter coat) of the EBONY on top of the RED CHESTNUT? And what was I thinking, of course EBONY is black. Geez louise! So Gregg has suggested we go out and look at the crib in the store again today because maybe my picture is too dark, and then decide. I'll also take a gander at the dried 1st 2 coats of RED CHESTNUT stain and see if that dried darker (in the picture I posted it is still wet.)

Hmm, I know I'm making a big deal out of this, but the dresser is history, a family heirloom if you will, and I want it to be amazing for Sam. Sure, it has deep gauges, and deep scratches and knicks that I couldn't sand out, so its not perfect, but I love aged pieces. And I want the nursery to be perfect. Is that crazy/wrong? am I getting too obsessive? Please tell me the rest of you ETH parents are like this.

Learning compromise -or- Sam's dresser Part II

I spent another 2 hours today sanding Sam's dresser. I don't like to use a lot of stripper chemicals, because this is very old and I don't want to damage the wood. I sand w/ medium to fine grade sandpaper in small incriments w/ my orbital sander. This is what the dresser looked like after sanding and wiping down w/ a wet cheesecloth to get all the dust off.

We took off the bottom "wooden dust ruffle" piece because it was broken. I don't know what shape I want on in its place (it was scalloped.) I guess I don't have to decide today.

So, because the crib is a very, very dark brown (called Coffee), we had picked out what we thought was a very, very dark brown stain for the dresser (called Ebony). I swear, in Home Depot, it was a dark brown, but when we "tested" the stain on an extra piece of wood today, it was BLACK. That is not what I want for the dresser, but being someone w/o the patience gene, I wanted to start staining today. So I went with 2 coats of Red Chestnut, which right now looks very brown, and not red at all. I don't think the dresser & crib have to be too "matchy-matchy" so I'm not going to worry if some red comes out w/ the poly sealer coat. I'm still doing the dresser 2 toned, with a light honey on the drawer faces & the top.

The sides of the drawers were very, very warn and since the sides don't show, they were made w/ lower quality wood. I could barely sand, for fear of splintering off the wood. So I made another compromise and painted the sides very dark brown paint, instead of stain (since I couldn't strip the old paint off, I couldn't stain.) At top is what the sides looked like after 2 coats of paint.

Finally, I have added a picture of Sam's Africa quilt. I hung it from a mirror in the nursery, so you cannot see top edge well, but heck, it's hard to photograph a quilt when you don't have the crib in the room yet!! The photo doesn't do it justice. It is so beautiful!

Nursery Furniture

Busy, busy on sat afternoon & sunday. We went to BRU and I showed Gregg the crib mom & I found a couple of weeks ago. He really liked it and found it to be very sturdy (Gregg has high sturdiness standards for all furniture in the house. As a result, it takes 3 people to move our couch, 2 for the dining room table, 3 for the amoire!) He loved the color (called Coffee but more like Espresso), which of course thrilled me. I was also so happy he loved the bedding mom & I found. Mom said "of course he did, what's not to love?" when I told her on the phone last night. I must agree, it's gorgeous! I'll try to upload a photo from my Treo so all can see.

To save money, and to impart a bit of family history, rather than purchasing the matching dresser for the crib, I am refinishing my mom's childhood dresser. My grandfather 1st purchased the dresser as naked furniture in 1955 and stained, then painted & re-painted for my mom. It then came to our house when we were little, and I brought the dresser to Chicago in 1995, after I painted it once again. It's 5 feet long, 4 feet high, and the drawers (8) are 20 inches deep. A dresser that size, to coordinate w/ the other nursery furniture, would cost at least $200 and more like $300. so, I stripped the old pain off last night, and was very pleased to find it is lovely knotty pine underneith. I removed the drawer knobs and we'll replace w/ new. I'm going to stain the top, sides, and drawer frames espresso, and the drawer faces a natural honey (think bamboo or rattan baskets). That way, it won't be too dark for the room, and will match w/ the changing table (open shelf design, we'll add rattan or bamboo baskets for diapers & supplies.) I'm so excited. Also, even if we purchase the super-expensive drawer knobs we have our eye on, the total cost for the "new" dresser will be around $50-60!!!! I'll upload a photo when it's finished.

Have our pictures for our "photo pages" that I'll tape on white paper and label today. Gregg is picking up our background checks from the local police (last time the detective did one letter w/ both our names, so had to re-do.) Once we receive our medical letters back from our PCP, we'll be finished w/ our part of the dossier. Then, just a waiting game for the home study/171H.