Bungalow Lifestyle: Baby, Bismarck and Banners

This week I got the chance to travel with my husband for his job, so I've spent the week in Bismarck, North Dakota. I had always pictured North Dakota as completely ugly and boring, much like eastern Montana. I was surprised to see that it's not so bad, and Bismarck is a very nice place! On the way we passed the Teddy Roosevelt National Park and saw some elk and wild horses. We also visited the Dakota Zoo, which was the first time for taking Charlotte to a zoo. Call it childish, but I LOVE zoos!!!! There weren't very many people there, which was nice. We went to the Tiger exhibit and one of the tigers walked right up to us... I have never been within three feet of a tiger! It was about dinner time for the animals so the mountain lions were growling, and the bobcat was making it's noise. It reminded me of a little kid saying "ow" in a really whiney voice. I forgot my camera, of course!

We have taken Charlotte out to dinner with us several times (we've never gone without her, in fact), but this week has given us some new experiences in that area. On Monday night we went to the Red Lobster. When we got there we found that Charlotte had made a dirty diaper on the way... when I took her out of her carseat a gentleman sitting nearby said something to the effect of "uh, you'd better watch out, there's a mess there". Sure enough this "mess" went all the way up her back, all over her dress and everything. So I carried her like a bomb into the bathroom, with everyone in the waiting area looking on. Tuesday night we decided to try again... we went to the Texas Roadhouse... now, Charlotte is learning to use her hands, which I should have thought about BEFORE I let her stand on my lap in the booth. These newly found hands are adept enough to grasp the top of a completely full glass of ice water and pull it into mom's lap. So once again I get to walk through a restaraunt of onlooking people, this time with most of my front and parts of my backside completely drenched. The fun part is I'm pretty sure this is only the beginning of experiences like this! You can bet there are NO pictures of this. I think we're going on a picnic tonight.

On to my banners... I have been making pennant flag banners out of various fabrics for friends for awhile - mostly for their nurseries. Lately I have been making them out of burlap that is upcycled from coffee bags from a local coffee roaster. My first one I made said "Sweet Love", which I painted on to the burlap using old house paint. The saying was a fluke, as those letters fit the spaces I had. I wanted to use the word Love and just counted for the rest of them. Below are pictures of the ones I've done. The "Thank you" and "Family" were custom ordered with those sayings. As I make more I will continue to post pictures! It has been a fun hobby and I thoroughly enjoy making them!