Your suggestions are appreciated

So where would you shop for furniture and bedding? I am having a hard time finding things that I like that are also not over a thousand dollars. Why is it that all of the inexpensive things are ugly? Here's a bed from Anthropologie and I really like it although this is the one I would die for (from Pottery Barn). Here's a similar one from Overstock.com but I'm not loving the x's. And I love this cool one from Etsy. But a canopy bed may overpower my space so I like this one too.
So, tell me. Where should I go to find a great bed and lovely bedding?

Nursery Tour

I've been searching high and low for new furniture. I love planning new rooms. It's just so exciting! Handsome Face is over two years old now so I think it's about time he had a new bed. I've got a few months to plan the perfect space so it should be fun.

I officially finished decorating my baby nursery a few months ago (just in time for my baby to move out). Here are some belated pictures.

The centerpiece of this room is the crib of course. Grandma Crapo bought this for us when Cute Girl was born. The walls are are Skipping Stones green and Baby Bee Yellow from Disney. Unfortunately I could never find great lighting so the color is hard to see. I plan on using this room for all of my babes and I wanted it to be gender neutral.I am a firm believer that if you have something, you should use it. Keepsakes, heirlooms, souvenirs, etc. are useless if they are packed away in boxes and attics. They become junk and clutter. So here I used baby pictures of my husband and I for nursery artwork. I spray painted white frames from Target to match other artwork in the room. The Greg Olsen print came from an old calendar that I've cut up and framed.I LOVE these paper globes. I found the pattern at Hello, My Name is Heather. They weren't too hard to make once I started using a punch instead of cutting the circles by hand. Handsome Face loves them. They're a fun variation on nursery mobiles.I made the curtains and bed skirt myself. I originally wanted to use this fabric but The Rocket Scientist picked out the fabric on sale at Jo-Anns. He called it a Pride and Prejudice print (i.e. calico - a tan flower print on light green) and it is very pretty. I still like my first one and I'm sometimes sad I didn't use it but I love it when he helps pick things out for the kids rooms. He usually has great opinions and ideas. Plus, his fabric was a fraction of the cost. The book box is from Michael's and I spray painted it to match the frames. The shelves hold more personal items: Dr. Seuss book from Aunt Heather, doll cradle from my grandfather, pillow-case doll my great-grandmother crocheted, and my childhood teddy bear.A quilt rack from Craig's List holds my and my husband's baby quilts and afghans crocheted by my two grandmothers.

The artwork is from art.com. It's pretty generic but I used it to pull the color scheme for the room (not that you can see the colors in these awful pictures). Plus, the kids like it and that is what's important. Handsome Face points out what he sees while laying on the changing table.

The Last Hurrah

These are the last of the vacation pictures and then it's on with life. On our last day in Indiana we went over to Brown County State Park. It's lovely and GREEN. It rained for a good portion of the day but we didn't mind. The kids rode ponies, looked at bees and turtles at the Nature Center, and played on a wet playground. We even managed a quick 1/2 mile hike in the mud. Afterwards Grandpa treated us to lunch at Culver's. It was yummy and we just discovered there's one here in the desert by the temple. Yay!

Handsome Face loved the ponies. I walked next to him so he wouldn't fall while my dad led the pony. The Rocket Scientist took Cute Girl. I don't think Cute Girl smiled except for the pictures. This was Cute Girl's favorite part - her very own house!

Lucky for us Grandma remembered the towels!

Bartholomew County Fair

We timed our vacation so we would be in Indiana for Handsome Face's birthday and the county fair. Here's a whole slew of pictures. The kids loved it.

Cute Girl absolutely adored the teacups. Handsome Face was too little to ride them so we saved it for last. She was the only one on the entire ride!

A self-portrait while we waited for a blue grass concert to begin

Looking at the animals, the fawns imparticular. We also saw raccoons, a fox, pheasants, rabbits, ducks, chicks, a calf, and alpacas.

Stealing my glasses while we hung out at Grandpa's fair booth

He loved tackling his sister. It must be a boy thing.

Happy Birthday

We celebrated Handsome Face's second birthday while we were in Indiana. I think he had a pretty good day. He got a tricyle and was too busy riding it around the house to eat any birthday cake. And he almost didn't get any because his aunts and uncle had almost devoured it by nightfall! Luckily his mom swooped in and saved him the last piece.Birthday lunch - I'm not sure why he was crying.But he's happy now! He's obsessed with dinosaurs right now and he got plenty of them for his birthday.

a fishing puzzle
new train tracks for GIGANTIC railroad construction

Hey, she gets the job done

Cute Girl has to do three things before getting breakfast in the morning: go to the bathroom, get dressed, and make her bed. If she gets up and gets going before she sees me in the morning, this all goes fine. But if she sees me before it's all finished, her bed magically turns into a giant mess and it's just too hard to do anymore. Never mind that she did it all by herself yesterday.
So today she saw me before it was all finished. In an effort to avoid a tantrum and/or argument, I helped get down her clothes and straightened the bottom of her sheets so that they would be easier for her to pull up. And she did go about making her bed, albeit reluctantly. The rest of the fam was in the toy room next door investigating Handsome Face's RC dinosaur. When I peeked back into her room, she was slung over the headboard of her sleigh bed and reaching down so that she could just barely reach the top of her sheet to pull it up. Apparently you can't do this with feet on the bed. It was just so comical to watch, I wish I had my camera.

We finally set off fireworks on Tuesday. Here Handsome Face enjoys another sparkler while we toasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Below, the kids are waiting for Grandpa and Uncle Chase to start the show.

The kids were cheering and egging their dad to jump in the water. It was so funny. Unfortunately, by the time I got back with the camera, Handsome Face had stopped jumping up and down. This was the best I could do.

The kids with great-grandma and great-grandpa Shoaf. We only see them twice a year and I always think that I should get a picture with them. This visit I finally managed it. They liked seeing Grandpa's peacocks and playing on the merry-go-round with my cousin Isabelle.

Mmmmm, Good

Handsome Face loves to tell me when something is yummy. "Mommy, ice cream mmm, good?" It's so funny, and hence the title of this post which is all about Zaharako's and it is definitely good.Downtown Columbus, Indiana is in the process of revitalization. (Why is it that all small downtowns are in the process of revitalization? Have you ever noticed that?) Zaharako's, the local soda fountain for over a hundred years, recently completed its own facelift. We treated my family to lunch there and it was so fun.

The food was really good. Here's my Gom sandwich. I grew up knowing what Gom was but I don't think anyone else reading this post will have a clue. So I tried to research it but came up with nothing. So here's my version: Gom is like sloppy joe, but not like Manwich, because that's just gross. It's sweet and just a little teeny bit spicy. I would say it's more like coneys than sloppy joe (if you even know what coneys is). Whether it's Midwestern, or Hoosier, or just plain ol' Columbus I don't know but I do know that I like it. I had mine plain but you can also get it on top of a burger or hotdog. Zaharako's also makes their own chips and fries. The boys (and my sister) got phosphate root beers from the fountain. It was fun for them what with the frosted mugs and all but I prefered my regular root beer.

I loved the faux newsprint that came with the meals and the real paper straws. How cool is that?! And notice the Gom on top of the dog.

While we waited for our food we looked around the museum and shop. They sell all sorts of candy, toys, and old fashioned gadgets. Here, Cute Girl tries her hand at the wooden yo-yo.

It didn't work out too well.
You can't leave without some ice cream. There were so many of us that I just ordered a Big Z - five scoops with hot fudge, peanuts, and whipped cream. Chase couldn't stop going on about the fudge.

Visit the site to see great pictures and learn about the orchestrion. It plays periodically while you eat and it's lots of fun to watch.

Recovering

Oh, my goodness, am I ever tired. We're on our second full day of being home from vacation and everyone's still a bit cranky from sleep deprivation. And at this very moment my two monsters are yelling at the top of their lungs, "CHOMPER! Where are YOU!" while they watch The Land Before Time II. They love stealing movies from Grandma's house.

So, I haven't posted in forever. That would be for three reasons. One - my life is boring and busy all at the same time. Two - the Rocket Scientist took FOREVER to put the Father's Day post up and for some reason I thought I needed to wait for him. Three - I had to prep for our trip to Indiana and then actually go to Indiana which was absolutely lovely. The going part, that is, not the prepping part.

I'll be posting Indiana pictures for the rest of the day. At least I'm going to try to post pictures for the rest of the day. We'll see how much I get done between the sleep deprived tantrums.

We drove overnight and arrived in Indiana on the morning of the Fourth. Of course it rained all day. The Rocket Scientist grilled our burgers, dogs, and brats outside and then we all ate in the dining room. We decided to wait on the fireworks. But when Cute Girl heard this she buried her head on my shoulder. It took me a few minutes to realize she was silently crying her little heart out. So we took pity and played with sparklers by the pool in the rain. It was a very exciting Fourth of July.