Refurbed and totally fabulous

You read it right.  The She-Judkins has reached a whole new level of cheapness, frugality, penny-pinching.  I am now a DIY refinisher of old stuff found on craigslist, garage sales, even the side of the road.  Oh yeah, and from the Kammerer's house, best source ever for items just begging for some spray paint.

It started when I realized we were moving from our fully furnished house in Salt Lake City to Montrose in August.  We had some furniture in storage (aka Mom and Dad's big barn under an old hay tarp), but we were missing one important room.  
Guesses?  
Hint.... 
Ok, what happened that rocked the Judki's world about 1 year ago? 

Yup, not a single stitch of baby furniture.  No crib.  No changing table.  No cute little ridiculous baby room decorations.  Nada. Zip. Zilch.

So I started shopping.  As you know, me and shopping do not do well.  I am too cheap.  And too distractable.  And too cheap.

So I started looking on KSL (aka Salt Lake's weird craigslist stand-in...don't ask, another weird momo thing I am sure).  And I hit the jackpot.  People love to sell their old stuff.  Garages full of stuff.  And you get multi-item discounts. Sometimes, people will even throw something in for free.  Did I say I was thrifty?  And yes, that is different than cheap.

Now, don't freak out.  This post is not titled "How to buy your baby the ugliest used furniture ever."  Every worthwhile project needs some before and after shots, so here it is, in all it's disgusting 1970's solid oak glory-Luke's dresser/changing table.  And, if you didn't notice, I almost forgot my 'before' shot in my excitement to get this little project going.  And the chairs in the background were on the 'buy one, get one' discount.  More on that later.

Step 1-Find good help

 Step 2-Remove the (hideous) hardware and sand those babies down.  Can we say elbow grease?

I learned about sandpaper grit, tack cloth, and how short a baby's attention span is for playing with mom on the garage floor.

Now for a paint color.  Stay tuned.  Come on, all good DIY blog posts need to have multiple parts, so this is where I will leave you hanging...  

Thoughts from the womb

  Yes, I know.  The title is a little daunting.  Stick with me for a minute.  As I know many of my friends are thinking about adding to their families with their second or third babies about now, I thought it might be a nice time to write a post about pregnancy.  Not the complaining, griping, tales of woe-as-me.  Rather, I want to tell you why pregnancy doesn't suck.
   First of all, look at what you get for your efforts.  I can't think of anything more enjoyable then this bundle of warm yum that you receive at the end of the journey that we call pregnancy.
   Second, you don't have to suck in your belly for almost an entire year. Yup, and everyone tells you how cute you are.  The fatter you get, the more attractive of a prego you become.  It is like magic.  Enjoy it.  Revel in it.  Eat ice cream for breakfast.
  Third, pregnancy is a miracle.  A honest-to-goodness miracle.  Whatever you believe and whomever you pray to, nobody can argue this fact.  How many other guaranteed miracles do you have in your life?  With such an amazing, too-good-to-be-true ending? Think about it.
   Fourth, labor is not that bad.  I mean that in a positive way.  Most women lose sleep at night worrying about this part of pregnancy.  At the end, it is a very unique, individual experience, but often much better in reality than our fears (and 'friends') led us to believe.  And you get a prize--refer to #1.
   And let me offer a small piece of advice from those that have to those that will be or are thinking about becoming.  Surround yourself with positive women who will share positive experiences with you.  No reason to get together at a baby shower or over coffee and re-live the horror tales of your sister's best friend's cousin's in-law who, had she been there, might tell her story in a bit more of a positive light.
   No, I am not knocked up.  Just getting a bit nostalgic for my little baby boy who is about to turn one this month.  And remembering the awesome joys of bringing him up in this world so far.  It is a humbling honor to be his mother that I thankful for every day.

Farrah doesn't have anything on me

This is me, on a good morning, before coffee.  How is your Fall going?

Love, Luke

We are officially Montrosians

We moved! Goodbye Salt Lake City-big mountains, big tabernacles, big religion.  Hello Montrose-small town, small traffic, small commute.  Big community, big farmer's market, big lawns, and big adventures starting right now! We are thrilled to both be joining private surgical practices starting in September.  Until then, hiking, biking, unpacking (still...), rafting, mowing (riding lawnmower came with the rental house-yippee!), organizing, chasing (Luke, who started to crawl, FAST), and just enjoying life after residency, school, school, and more school.  September will come soon enough.

Our new address is

63157 Newport Drive

Montrose, CO 81403

Marathoning and beyond

  You can say whatever you want about those crazy people that run further in a morning than most people drive in a week--don't worry, I can take it.  I love to run.  I enjoy getting outside, with just me, my running shoes, and the sound of my own heartbeat in my ears as I pound out the miles.  Wait...scratch that.  I have not crossed over to that scary, weirdo place where zealot athletes go to stroke their own egos.

  No, I like to run because it is easy, you can do it anywhere with just a pair of shoes, and it is cheap (hence, just a pair of shoes).  Now, occasionally, I will add an excited dog who obsessively hunts squirrels, a regularly malfunctioning old iPod that has horrifically inappropriate running tunes ('If I die young', really?), and most recently, your favorite little sidekick, sweet Luke, complete with his toys, Wubba, and decked out running buggy thanks to Great-grandpa.  All this adds up to a little less simple and a bit more effort to get out of the house, but it is still worth it in the end, even when we only make it 3 miles on a 10-mile day or take a short-cut home for a major diaper malfunction.

  I ran the Steamboat Marathon this past weekend.  It was beautiful, warm, and long.  26.2 miles long to be exact, but who is counting.  I had the support of my awesome husband, kid, parents, in-laws, and niece and nephew.  This crazy idea sprouted a few years back when my friend Maria signed me up for my first marathon--some would use the word 'friend' lightly here, but I really think she had my best interests in mind.

 A few years and a few races later, I found myself running alone on Sunday for the first time due to numerous extenuating circumstances.  Let me tell you, marathoning is meant to be done in a herd, group, pack, gaggle, entourage--whatever you want to call it, anything but solo.  Suffice to say, I made it, with the greatest prize ever waiting for me at the finish line.

Road Trippin' Judki

Drew is back after 6 long, hot months in Djibouti (yea, look it up).  To welcome him home, we made a crazy Judki roadtrip including a stop in Steamboat for some roofing (yes, that is not a typo), a stop in Ft. Collins for some visiting the newest Judki puppy addition, Sadie, a stop in Denver for a reunion of the urban family and some landlord duties (by far the least favorite part of the trip--the landlord duties, not the awesome food with awesome friends--that part was, well, AWESOME!), a caravan with two twins, two wives, two cousins, and two furbabies to Crested Butte for biking, hiking, and Cody/Luke romping, and then a HUGE, spectacular party complete with friends, family, and margaritas to celebrate Drew's return stateside!


Some highlights...

Welcome home Drew--we are so glad you are back!!!

Spring Antics

Oh, how I love the snow, skiing, sweaters, and hot soup.  Winter has lots of things to be thankful for.  But, Spring, oh Spring....let me count the ways!
-Where else is manure is a thing of beauty?

-When else does Tre take a break from fetch to smell the posies?

When else can all of THIS make a patch of dirt turn into something like THIS?

Spring Spring, oh glorious Spring!

Spock ear continued...

Oh, the things we get away with as parents.  Everyday is a bit of an experiment, trial and error, learning how to raise this little human.  Sometimes it is a bulls-eye, other times it is a near-miss.  And then there are those instances where you are so far off the parenting mark, you wonder how you got put in charge at all....


Dragging around Luke in his VERY slippery snowsuit.

Diapers-the sun bleaches the poop stains (if that is not totally cool, I don't know what is)

Milk Bag--behold the newest style of waterproof cell phone holders for kayaking, skiing, LARPing--you name it!

Patagucci-only size 2T (it was on sale...)

Milk coma- a state of pre-sleep, complete relaxation attained immediately following a trip to the milk bar

Baby napkin-not sure if this is protecting Dad, Luke, or neither

Have milk bar, will travel-hiking up Angel's landing in Zion National Park-hey, a kid has gotta eat!

Got Milk? Dad teaches Luke all the important things like how to sneak a drink straight out of the carton, no glass needed.

First food-raw, uncooked brownie mix.  That's right, no rice cereal or bananas for this Judki--full speed ahead, desserts only please.  Thanks Dad!