Nesting

So either my nesting instinct has kicked into overdrive or allowing myself to splurge on a (large-ish) caffeinated iced tea at lunch was just what I needed to take on some of my last minute baby-prepping tasks.

For the last 2 days, I have struggled to get through to Lilly’s nap time, so that I could also nap. Struggle I did, and nap I did even better — two hours each day and I still woke up zonked and ready to go back to bed. Needless to say, my to-do list was sitting stagnant.

Today, expecting the same lack of drive, I set my expectations low. Buy my brother a birthday card and maybe, if I was up for it, get to the grocery store. Instead, I found myself at Wal-Mart where I never, ever go. And I know people always say that they don’t shop at Wal-Mart, but I really never go there. Seriously. Not only do I have a beef with the company model, but I also have to drive past two other superstores to get to the closest Wal-Mart, so it just doesn’t even cross my mind. And I can never find anything there anyway since the layout makes no sense to me and I have had nothing but bad customer service on the few occasions when I have gone. So, really, not a Wal-Mart fan.

Alas, I’ve been having a problem — a ridiculously, large and rather annoying problem — finding curtains for T. Rex’s nursery. And having run out of options a few days ago, I called my sister to get suggestions of someplace – anyplace – else I could try to find what I wanted. Later that day she emailed me a link to some curtains at walmart.com that could possibly fit the bill, but the color was questionable. I had to see them in person.

Fast forward to today, I found myself mildly motivated to check them out. Turns out, they won’t work. But I did find curtain rods that would work, which had also been giving me problems. So while I was on a roll, I took a gander at what else they had.  I ended up in the fabric and sewing section. Alarm bells were ringing in my head.

Step away from the fabric! You only have 19 days (or less) until T. Rex arrives! No time for a spontaneous and poorly planned craft project! Step away, woman!!

And then . . . there it was. My fabric. A perfect match for the nursery I’ve been piecing together. Exactly what I needed to give the room the added color I’d been craving.

I knew it meant more work than I’d been planning to do and I hadn’t even measured the windows for homemade curtains (although I had a pretty good estimate in my head) and I already had 2 sets of curtains that could potentially work en route to my house from amazon.com that were set to be delivered today and I’d yet to stay awake past 3 p.m. without a nap so far this week. This was NOT a good time to take on my first DIY curtain project.

Some rough math, a call to my sewing god (a.k.a. Mom), another frustrating encounter with Wal-Mart staff and 8 yards of fabric later, I was headed home to start T. Rex’s new curtains.

Truth be told, randomly-hatched, poorly-conceived craft projects is kind of what I do. But here’s where the shocking part comes in. The motivation never stopped. Before picking Lilly up from school, I managed to get the hardware on one window and definitive measurements. I picked up Lilly and went straight to another fabric store to pick up the blackout fabric I needed to line the curtains. Check.

After lunch, I brought Lilly home for a nap while I got started on sewing. Lilly did not nap, but I still managed to get through about 1/2 of one window panel before I started feeling guilty about her watching TV on a gorgeous autumn day. So we headed outside for a play break. While Lilly kept herself busy playing hopscotch, I started sorting through some stuff in the garage, when I came across some wall pegs I’d been meaning to re-paint for the nursery. Lilly moved on to the sandbox. I grabbed a sanding block and spray paint and went to town on the pegs.

Lilly and I played outside a little longer before I started to get the itch to stitch again. We headed back inside and I went back to my curtains while Lilly worked on her “fabric” (construction paper).

I finished one panel while simultaneously making dinner. Ate with the family. Cleaned up. Bathed Lilly. Went through our bedtime routine. Installed the hardware on the other window.  And now I’m writing this post.

I have to admit, sitting still for these few minutes, I realize I’m probably done for the night. But not bad for one day’s nesting (or caffeine jolt). Keep your fingers crossed I get at least another day or two like this so that T. Rex has a complete set of curtains by the time he arrives.

And if you’re in the market for new curtains, there will be a tutorial for DIY simple blackout curtains coming soon. ‘Cause I did most of that today too.

The Nesting by MushBrain, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at mushbrain.net.