Bat-Cave ® Beats Construction Paper...

Okay, last redesign for awhile. The most recent one was driving me nuts....not really my style. I didn't want to bore you with the honest reason why I changed the look in the first place, but I'm low on material today so I'll give you the rundown: it was because of the birds.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock you know the new show "Portlandia" is all the rage. Well I was laughing right along with everyone else until they dedicated an entire 4 minute clip to people who think putting a bird on something is the very last precursor to opening your own successful Etsy shop.   After seeing that, I got a little paranoid about my simple little bird banner so I spent all of 20 minutes changing it.  But you know what?  I liked the birds.  Truth be told, the reason I had the little green and pink birds on my original blog was because it matched Luelle's nursery. I had just completed that room when I started my blog (she was 10 months old....timely, I know) and was feeling a sense of barely deserved accomplishment.  My in-laws had given her this insanely cute Pottery Barn bedding set (adorned with little birds happily sitting on branches) after they saw me drooling all over it one day at the store.  Of course, it wasn't the birds that drove me to that exact bedding set. It was the fact that this particular bedding had stripes of neon green calmed down with colors like "celery" and "rose petal."  You see, when we moved into this house, the room that is now the nursery was painted a neon green that dang near eradicated the need for an artificial lighting source! And after painting every last wall in my old house I was in no hurry to head to the Home Depot only to forget if I like eggshell or flat  paint all while trying to pocket some extra stir sticks.  So instead, I lazily planned an entire nursery around neon green walls and over a year later it finally looks like it was on purpose! It only took me 16 months of planning to save 3 hours of painting!  I'm a genius....I know!!

That was a little more long-winded than it needed to be - sorry.

So I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!  Luke and I aren't much for this holiday.  He gives me flowers and all....but I don't need the whole she-bang.  This year was going to be no different right up until Emery asked me, "Mom, what is Valentine's Day?" after watching 4 cartoons in a row that used the holiday as a background theme for teaching kids that biting won't win you friends on a playground.  Shoot!  Sometimes I forget that I am solely responsible for creating magical memories that will transcend any damage I've unknowingly done to my kid and keep him off the therapy couch for anything related to his childhood.  Naturally I spent the twenty minutes after his question combing my house for last minute craft supplies.  And when I say "comb" I should more clearly explain that short of a search and rescue squad I had to look in every drawer and closet in this house until I found pipe cleaners, construction paper, and glue sticks tucked way back in the garage underneath old wires that I will never use again but I am afraid to throw away just in case I find that 2 megapixel point-and-shoot circa 2001.  In any case, I got out my little plastic scissors and told Emery that we were going to decorate the dining room for a special dinner with daddy.  "What are you making for our special dinner?" he asked.  Rub in kid.....rub it in!  So you would be right if you guessed that I had Emery's attention for all of 2 paper hearts before he was back at his Bat-Cave ® leaving my broken construction paper dream behind him.  At this point I had committed to the project though and spent the next hour hanging paper hearts and crepe paper by myself to make good on my promise for a special Valentine's Day party.  When I was done it looked like the Dollar Store exploded pink, red, and purple. That's a home-run in my world!

I think Luke liked it when he got home and we were all waiting for him at the table.  And in true three year old fashion, Emery took all the credit like somehow he, Batman, and Robin had supervised my hard work and painstakingly stood by while I placed hearts uttering things like, "A little lower on that one...."

I bet some of you got jewelry.  I bet some of you got flowers. And I'm happy for you!  But I got something even better!  I got a little paper Valentine with a box of nerds that fit right into a tiny pre-perforated holder.  "I read somewhere you liked the kind that has candy inside, that those are what the cool kids give away?"  And that is why some people are just made for each other....

Put a Bird On It!