Bucket list- Grand Rapids Public Museum

Here's our last bucket list item.

Hubby's birthday

We celebrated hubby's birthday last week.  Baby Chuck and I woke up early to head out to the store and prepare for his birthday, but we ran into a little bit of trouble along the way. 

(1)  It was very windy that day and I had several Marilyn Monroe-esque moments.  I think I flashed everyone in the parking lot.  Luckily, it was pretty empty and I was wearing a slip.

I ended up using two grocery bags to hold my dress down.

(2) Baby Chuck really wanted to get hubby a birthday balloon.  After deliberating for what seemed like hours and hours, we finally settled on a cute airplane shaped balloon.  I gave Baby Chuck the responsibility of bringing the balloon to the car.  As we left the store, a strong gust of wind blew and our airplane took flight.

It's probably somewhere over Lake Michigan by now, wishing birds and sea creatures a happy birthday.

(3) I like to pretend like I know what I'm doing in the kitchen. But, Ina Garten, I am not.  I tried following an online recipe for a gluten free chocolate cake.   The man in the video assured me that it would be simple, foolproof, and delicious.  I don't know what he was talking about.  Here's how my poor cake turned out.

It ended up being pretty tasty... and at least it didn't blow away!

Goodbye ice-cream

A couple of nights ago we shared some goodbye ice-creams with my friend Lisa and her family.  Lisa and I met at church and became good friends.  She's a fellow mommy, lover of Anne of Green Gables, and blogger.

She also has two adorable kids who are always so sweet to Baby Chuck.    

We're going to miss them lots and lots and lots.

Hubby alters lockers

With only a week left to go, we've been making our last trips to the thrift stores to stock up on furniture before our move back East.  (Sure, they have a lot of great stuff in New Jersey and New York, but everything is just a lot more affordable here.)  

Last weekend hubby spotted two lockers at a thrift store.  Here's what a locker looked like: 

(We didn't bring our camera, so I borrowed this photo of a similar locker from here)

Hubby really liked their industrial feel and thought they could replace for our current television stand.  (Now that Baby Chuck is starting to move around, he tries to grab the books, plates, and wires sitting on that thing.)  I was a bit skeptical about the lockers.  Would they look good with our big green sofa?  Does metal "go" with tufted buttons and curvy white feet?

After lots of back and forth discussion, we decided to get the two pieces on one condition:  hubby would modify them according to my specifications.  Lucky for me, he agreed.

I wanted to soften up the pieces and make them more quirky.  So, I asked hubby to spray paint the front panels white and change the door locks to drawer handles.  Here's the final result of hubby's labor:

Note:  This is hubby's first time spray painting!  He said it was lot of fun and easier than painting with a brush.

I really like how the pieces turned out.  They look modern and playful.
Hubby is a superdeedooper diy-er!

Doggie doctor visit

Lately Charlie hasn't been feeling too well.  He's been lethargic,disinterested in his food, and having accidents in our apartment.  The vet diagnosed him as having a urinary tract infection.  So far we've tried two types of antibiotics and neither one seemed to help.  Today we're taking him in for an x-ray.

Hopefully they'll figure out what's wrong.

Update:  The results were inconclusive.  The vet doesn't know what's wrong.. so we're now debating our options...