I ordered the announcements from Paper Source, a company which I love. I first used this company for my wedding "guestbook" in which I asked guests to write their wishes on a small card and stick it in an envelope, as well as for place cards at the reception entrance telling guests which table they should sit at. (Yes, I told my guests to stick it and sit it.) They've got a lot of great products. Did I mention I love them?
The announcements arrived, they look great, and were packaged excellently for shipping. Everything in the box was recyclable; no foam peanuts or bubble wrap (yes I know you can recycle these but in my town, it's not curbside, which is useless). Instead, the product was packaged with this:
Biodegradable air cushions! They break down in 9-60 months. I plan to put them in the compost bin, which is working out great, by the way. We've been composting all our vegetable waste since this past spring, and the pile is shrinking, decomposing and not smelling. We haven't spread any compost around the garden yet; maybe next spring. So I emailed their customer service and thanked them for helping me avoid ruining the environment. In return I received an auto-reply, followed by a standard reply thanking me for my comment and saying they would forward it to the appropriate people. I hope the appropriate people see fit to reward my comment with some free products from their lovely company. Otherwise, what's the point?????
In other news, I ruined our dining table.
In the lower left, you'll see my belly has crept into the picture. It has just begun to get in the way in many ways, such as in this photo, and also when I go up to the window to look outside; it arrives at the window first and I have to lean in to get closer. But I digress. See the big white blotches on the table? So do I. These developed because while making curtains for Blueberry's nursery I used the table as an ironing board. I had wrapping paper on the table (to protect it from fabric glue, which is better than thread, in my opinion) and I had a towel on top of that, to protect it from the heat of the iron. It didn't work.
So as with every other problem I have had since 1998, I googled it. The #1 advice on the topic was to lay a white t-shirt on the blotches, then apply an iron to the area on the steam setting. It seemed counterintuitive to use the same method to remove the stains as I did to put them there, but I tried it and it worked terrifically. After:
No sign of the white blotches whatsoever. So, I didn't need to tell Stanley that I ruined our cherished antique table. But I told him anyway. He was alarmed and relieved.
Stanley finished painting the nursery last night!! I'm so excited to put everything in place and take pictures. Also last night, we picked up our new crib from IKEA (thank you, sister Lotus*), along with a crib mattress, and on Friday I assembled our new glider rocker and ottoman (thank you, sister Janis* and bro-in-law Grover*), and I think all of the fabric decor (curtains, basket liners, pillows, etc.) is complete and ready to install. Also on Friday I washed all of Blueberry's clothes and diaper covers (still need to do a 5-wash marathon on the diapers themselves). So in a matter of a few hours the nursery will be DONE!! Of course I will then spend the next 7-12 weeks tweaking it to perfection.
My hip still hurts, but I can walk (slowly), and it feels better or worse depending on my activity level, which is great for my peace of mind because it's not getting steadily worse and it's somewhat within my control. So I'm happy.
*Names changed.
