WOODEN TRUCK MAKEOVER

So, whats really cool about this wooden truck is that it was my brothers when he was a little kid (almost 40 years ago!). I actually remember playing with it myself too, so I got pretty nostalgic when I came across this little treasure in our attic. Oscar is in a massive car phase and has been for quite some time now (when he was about 8 months old we used to be able to just go to our living room window and point at my boring old Yaris when he was upset and he'd stop crying haha), so I thought I'd give the truck a lick of paint and a bit of new life.

Here's the before:

My mom last painted this truck in 1992 with a floral motif, and I actually remember her doing it. I even remember the name of that blue shade, bondeblå or farmer's blue, and I guess she quite liked it as she went on a bit of a spree and painted all sorts of stuff in our house in this same shade, everything from baskets to the broom to the shutters on the outside of our house haha. I actually really like the color too, but I kind wanted to get rid of the flowers and just give it a bit of a refresh. The shade I ended up with is pretty close to the original color, just a little dustier and less saturated, which I like. And by the looks of it, Oscar seems to be loving his new truck too! "Wow, big truck!" says Oscar.

(Sidenote: When I was done with this truck, I obviously had quite a bit of paint left. So far I've only painted the stool we keep in the bathroom, but I can see how this could easily escalate to brooms and baskets and shutters in no time haha)

OSCAR'S TRAVEL ALBUM

One of the gifts we received when Oscar was born was this memory book. It's essentially a spiral notebook filled with blank pages and a personalized cover, and I think a lot of people use these as a type of baby book. But as you may already know, Oscar already has one of those. So I spent some time thinking about how to use this book. I could have just scrapped the baby book and used this one, but I'd kinda already started the baby book and I enjoy its cheesiness haha. I could have just filled this with photos. I could have let him fill it himself, even just with random drawings. After lots of overthinking, I decided to just go with my first impression of the book and turn it into Oscar's very first travel journal.

Seeing as I kinda feel like I have enough journals and photo album projects and whatnot, I decided to keep this one as simple as possible, with mainly just photos and text. I usually use about a page or two per trip, or a page or two per stop if it's part of a longer road trip. Everything from small weekend trips to the cabin to our big coast-to-coast American road trip earlier this year gets journalled. This is also where I stick down any postcards he gets in the post.

I drew a map on the first page, which I plan on marking every time he visits a new country. I might add more to it later, but for now I'm keeping it pretty minimal. So far, counting the country he lives in, he's already been to six countries! Not a bad start for our young explorer.

The further I get on, I seem to be focusing more on the photos and less on the text, which I'm pretty happy with as I often struggle to figure out what to write and feel it ends up a bit awkward. It's not until the latest trip, our coast-to-coast American roadtrip, where I've started using alpha stickers and the like. Not sure I'll keep doing it, as I want to keep it as simple and minimal as possible with the main emphasis on the photos, but somehow I feel it works for that trip. I also try to use as many random phone photos as I can, as these photos are likely to not end up in any other photo books. It's a work in progress obviously, but I'm happy to report that I'm well over halfway through the pages! And at this rate, the book might end up being so thick I might need to take out some pages.

I really do hope Oscar grows into one of those people who appreciate these sort of things as an adult haha. But, if nothing else, at least I have a really good time making them. :)

HOMESTEAD SHAWL

I remember once as a child, I was in town with my mother, when she ran into someone she knew and stopped to talk to them. I guess I was pretty ready to go home, as at one point she turned to me and said, "you're so impatient!" I didn't know what impatient meant, but I thought it sounded absolutely fantastic.

Anyway, while I was trying my best to wait for my yarn order so that I could finish my No Frills sweater, my fantastic impatience got the better of me and I ended up starting a new knitting project: the Homestead Shawl. Ironically enough, I received my yarn the next day, but by then I was already knee deep in making eyelets and braid stitches and basically unable to put my new knitting project down. I was really close to finishing this before I finished the No Frills sweater (I have finished it, I just felt like posting this one first, for no apparent reason at all).

Anyway, here we are: my first shawl! I really enjoyed knitting this and absolutely love the finished product. It's made up by mostly knit stitch and a few rows of structured knit to break it up, which made it both quick to knit and also kind of addicting. The braid stitch was a new one for me, and now I kinda want to knit horizontal braids on everything. I used Pickles' Angora yarn for this (which I think might be discontinued) in 7283 Dyp Skog, a lovely shade of green. It's so soft and fuzzy, and it's getting me all excited about cozying up in this on a chilly autumn day!

CURRENTLY IN JULY

spending a lot of time in our garden. We removed some flowerbeds, extended our lawn and added a sandbox this year, which has made it a lot more suitable for playing. I love seeing Oscar and Bo run around in it!

reading The Power by Naomi Alderman, and absolutely loving it.

updating Oscar's travel journal. Our little two-year-old has already been to six different countries! (Eight if you're counting England, Wales and Scotland as separate countries!) Who says you can't travel once you have kids?

listening to the Wild Wild Country soundtrack on repeat.

taking an online class from Yale: the Science of Well-Being. I studied psychology so this stuff is right up my alley. I'm only on week three, but really enjoying it so far!

sneaking away on a little date this week! Graeme's parents are visiting for the week, so we're taking advantage of the built in babysitters and planning on hitting up either Gladmat i Fargegaten or Spiselig Byfest, sans kiddo. Excited!

photo by my lovely husband :)