7 Quick Takes: Better Late Than Never

— 1 — Things have been so all over the place lately, I can barely keep my head on straight. After finally moving in the last of our things from the old apartment, we drove down to Los Angeles the very next day to catch a plane to Northwest Arkansas. And by "moving in" I mean that we left everything in half-opened boxes strewn about in every room, effectively creating a fire hazard and an obstacle course. We got back home on Friday and I feel myself twitch every time I look at one of those boxes, and yet I feel too tired to do anything about it. Um, nesting energy, where are you?
— 2 — Vacation was great. I couldn't ask for a better extended family. I truly tried to relax and enjoy the scenery, and was so happy to watch my husband interact with my Southern folk. I am so grateful to have such a large, extended family (on both sides) that I can keep in touch with. My great Aunt and great Uncle seem just as excited for our baby boy as if it were their own great grandchild. 

My buddy Turtle and I. 

I was a little bit naughty and went horseback riding while 5.75 months pregnant. My cousin Shelli (the cowgirl) said she rode until she was 8 months pregnant, and her horse is named Turtle after all, so I felt pretty confident. I walked on Turtle for a bit, until he decided he didn't want to walk anymore and closed his eyes and took a snooze. Then I had Brian lead me around the arena on Turtle. Getting on and off the horse was a bit of trick, but with a little bit of help I managed. Nothing can keep me from my horse riding!
— 3 — My fellow thrifters would be so proud of me. I went CRAZY in Gentry, AR at one of the cutest little baby consignment shops. I actually went back two days in a row, accumulating a total of 25 pieces of clothing and 2 newborn hats for $48.90. For those of you who are math-disabled like me, that comes out to $1.81 per item. You can't beat gently used baby clothes (two items actually had the stickers still on them, so they were brand new) for under $2 a pop. A few of the items I found were even 100% organic cotton!
All told, so far I have only bought baby boy clothes at consignment shops, or the 50%+ off rack at Sears. I have yet to spend more than $4 on any one item. The little man has clothes from 0-3 months all the way to 12 months. I'm feeling pretty awesome. 
Tomorrow I'll probably go through his clothes and discover he has all shirts and no pants or something. 
— 4 —

Indian (Native American if you please) fry bread tacos. Delicious.

I'm ashamed to say I took barely any pictures on my week-long vacation. Ugh. I used to be so good about capturing all the moments on my travelling excursions, but I've really fallen off the wagon lately. 
I do have some pictures of Brian and the rest of the family shooting guns on the property (I wisely decided to snap some quick pictures and then head inside, since 8 people shooting clay pigeons is a little loud for baby), but uploading them would involve me getting out of bed and going downstairs. Sorry guys - you'll have to take my word - Brian was really, really good! 
— 5 — Twitter. I communicate with some of you on twitter already, but generally have tried not to put my username out there. I have a couple of reasons for doing so, but mostly it's because a lot of my family and friends (i.e., the non religious kind) don't know I have a blog, so I'm hesitant to link the two together. Do I really want to open myself up to that kind of scrutiny? Do I want friends of friends coming to my blog? I have other, less than devout reasons too. I curse - in fact, I really like to curse, and I know that bothers some people (religious and unreligious alike). Do I want my fellow bloggers to see how unperfect I am? Will my cathsorority sisters think less of me?
I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Do others have this dilemma? Is this a Catholic convert issue? What do you think?
— 6 — As soon as I finish unpacking all these *#$@& boxes I want to start decorating this place so it feels like HOME. Right now I tend to feel like I'm either house sitting for someone or staying in a rental vacation home. The walls are SO WHITE and SO BARE. Between furnishing the guest room and the baby's room, we definitely have a lot of shopping to do, but I really don't know the first thing about decorating. I tend to be a DIY type person, but I draw the line at refinishing furniture and hanging light fixtures. 
Pinterest has been, of course, a great source of inspiration. Now if only I can find all of those cute little bathroom accessories at Walmart. 
— 7 —

I guess I could see these three people hanging out together. 

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!