Time Warp

So, the end of October is upon us. I still cannot believe this month has passed so quickly.

I remember thinking at the beginning of this month to not forget my mom's birthday. (I am notorious for forgetting b'days and am always late with birthday wishes.) My mom is the greatest and deserved to be remembered on not only special occasions - birthdays, anniversaries and such - but on "just because" occasions as well! She was able to raise three girls (sometimes by herself...Pappa Bear was in the Navy and gone for some signficant periods) to be productive members of society. We was (and is) and parent, mentor, and now friend. What I learned from her, I am using to raise my own little one (I hope I can do so well.) Well, she called yesterday to say "hi" and that she had a great b'day. OMG....I was speechless. I had totally and utterly forgot....not just my usual late....but not even on the radar forgot. 50 lashes with a wet noodle forgot! UGH! So horrible! She was, of course, gracious and understanding that life sometimes takes over but it is a wake up call to get life's priorities back in place.

Tonight is Halloween. We are not big holiday-type people. We use these sorts of occasions to spend time together. With little one nearing two now, we are trying to use these occasions for more family fun. We actually broke down and got her a costume yesterday (a very cute goldfish outfit.....half price because purchased so late). Well, she wants nothing to do with it. At first, she would not even be in the same room as her. (I believe she thought it would eat her.) We put the costume on ourselves (ok...a bit small for us but trying to get her to see the fun in it). We also put it on the dog (who gave us the "I'm not having fun" reproachful look...as we are laughing ourselves into silliness). While we are getting closer to little one touching the outfit, we are still a ways from her wearing it. Oh well.....it has been a fun family activity.

Have a great day!

How can time go so fast!

It is Sunday evening and another week has passed within the blink of an eye. How can time go by so quickly. If I stop and think, I can remember something about each day that has passed. But, I must really stop and think about it. Where are those roses to smell? Have to stop for a minute.....maybe, I will have time to do so next weekend. ;)

This week, little one learned to blink. Obviously, she naturally blinks when she needs to but this week we practiced opening and closing our eyes on purpose. She was so proud of this accomplishment. She would close her eyes and then spring them back open....her whole face would light up in a huge grin at her success.

We have been really trying to increase her approved menu list. To date, it is a short list - oatmeal, waffles, cereal, mac & cheese, Dino (chicken nuggets), about any dairy product (cheese, milk, yogurt, ice cream) and any fruit or cracker or chip. What is missing from this mix is protein. Other than her Dino bites, she is not a meat eater. She won't eat any other meat, beans, pasta, or bread. We try to introduce her to something each day to try to expand her horizons (this week was avocados). We have had success with fruits but that is about it. Stay tuned!

Well, have a great week. Stop and smell the Halloween candy!

Manic Monday

How can Monday be over already? The weekend just flew by. This is the time to be in Houston. The weather has been downright gorgeous. You just want to spend every minute outside.

This weekend, we went to a pumkin patch. Little one pet the goat and horse but did not want to take the horsey ride. (I can't remember when I fell in love with horses but do know that once I did, you could not keep me away from them. Spent many an evening sitting backward on my horse with my text book resting on his butt. Ahh...the good times.) For now, little one will ride the play horse in the park.

Time is going swiftly by and Halloween will be upon us soon. We have yet to decide on a costume for little one. Last year, she was a watermelon (it was an outfit that someone had given us). As no one has given us one this year, we have to find something!! That will be my mission for this coming weekend.

Little one had an early night tonight. We went on our usual walk around the block this evening. She had a snack. We played..."you can't get me"...where she chases me around until I stop, then she runs into my arms nd grabs me. (Of course, it is mutual "grabbing" which could be deemed as a whole body hug. Nothing better than the little one in my arms with her arms wrapped around my neck.) Then, she said "go to bed" and ran to her bed. She wanted to just get in...no diaper change or pajamas. When I put her on the changing table, she actually cried and said "bed, bed." After a quick change of diaper and clothes and a short rock in the chair, I put her down and she was gone. This was 7:30!!

Have not scrapped since we came back from the scrapping convention. Have to get back to that. Seems like little one is changing every day (for example, she learned to blink this week). Need to preserve these special moments!

Have a great week!

Finally Friday

Even though this has been a short work week, it has been a long week. Little one is teething, yet again, and allergies have been at an all time high.

We believe little one is getting her eye teeth. She currently has 12 beautiful teeth (from four top and bottom and a molar). She has a great toothy grin. I guess now, painfully, filling in the gaps. These have been tough ones. For the past three days, she has obviously not been herself. She has been whiny, clingy and just out of sorts. Her sleep has been restless. She does not want to eat or drink much and she has run the intermittant fever. Poor little girl. She did go to pre-school yesterday. Upon getting home she just ran to her bedroom and said "bed." I put her in her crib (in her school clothes) thinking she just wanted to grab bear for a little love but she burrowed down and went to sleep. (This was at 6:45pm!) She slept through, with only the occasional leg thumping, until 7:15 this morning. She seemed more perky this morning but will see how the day progresses.

I am also miserable. It is allergy time. Even if little one were sleeping well, I would not be. I have had a sinus headache for a couple of days that seems resistent to the usual allergy meds. Also, it seems to be worse when I am at home. Because the weather is cool at night, we have not been running our air conditioner. I am beginning to wonder if the wall that got wet has some mold or something that is affecting my allergies. Ugh!

Will probably head to a pumpkin patch this weekend to get in the Halloween spirit. Also need to finalize little ones costume.

Back in the Saddle Again

What a great weekend! It was a weekend full of girl power. I met my girl friend in Salt Lake City. We met 130 other new girl friend's that share our passion for scrapping and documenting our lives (mostly our little one's lives) digitally. And, the coup de gras, snow! Yes, I am a cold weeny but this was beautiful mountain snow (and I was departing for the warmer climes after 6 hours of admiring the snow).

Hubby had a good time with little one for the four days but...he was definitely happy to see me come home. Unfortunately, now little one is sick. (She started running a fever yesterday and had a VERY difficult night last night. She just felt bad. She would whimper. When we picked her up, she just clung to us and wanted to be comforted. Hate to see her feel so bad. Hopefully, this will pass quickly.) Hubby stayed home with her today and, again, was very happy when I came in the door from work.

The convention was interesting. It was the first time I have attended anything like this. (Usually, I am the one that is hawking the wares.) This was put on by one of the digital scrapbooking websites. Some of these people were quite die hard in their devotion to the site and the designers. I enjoyed learning a few new techniques but really enjoyed the time spent catching up with my gal pal and scrapping a few pages.

Here is one of the layouts that I did during this visit.

Credits to:
Eirene's Just Another Day from My ScrapShop http://myscrapshop.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1351

Pillowgirl's It's all Me doodle from My ScrapShop

MCA designs torn paperhttp://studiomcadesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13&products_id=42

oooh...also...from the last layout...I have to admit, I scraplifted the layout from LAT4005. Here is here beautiful layout: http://www.myscrapshop.com/gallery/displayimage-468.html

Off for another trip

I am 24 hours away from heading to Salt Lake City. Yes, another fun trip. While hubby is not all that thrilled and neither is work, it just worked out that way. The SLC trip has been planned a LONG time. The Las Vegas trip was just thrown into the mix.

The SLC trip is a scrapping convention. I know...you are saying, "you go to enough conventions." Well, for this convention, I do not have to stand at a booth for 8 hours a day talking with scientist-types. This is just for fun. I am hoping to get out of my scrapping funk and learn lots and lots of new techniques and tools.

I completed the complementary page to yesterday's page. The smile on little one's face as she forged out in front setting her own course was priceless.

Credits...same as yesterday.

May not be logging in until Sunday so have a great weekend!

What do toys do in the toy box?

I swear, everytime we turn around, we have more toys. Everynight, we put the toys away in the toy box (OK, it is actually little one''s Pack-n-Play but at least they are off the floor). The next day when little one takes them back out, more of the room ends up being covered in toys. How does that happen?


Today, a big box of toys arrived on our doorstep from hubby's family. Lots of wonderful toys. As we were unloading the box, one of the toys began to sing the alphabet song. The munchkin sat there and sang nearly the whole song while she was doing a little groving to the tune. Too funny! Have to put the video somewhere closer at hand to catch these moments!



I have finally done a scrap page. I have been in a bit of a funk. Over the last week, I have started 3-4 pages and have not gotten the inspiration to finish any of them. I was actually trying to scrap one of the mutt ...but just could not get it to come together. Will keep trying. Have to do at least one page that excludes little one.


The photo from today's page came from a walk along a trail by our house. Little bit loves this trail as often the ducks will come over looking for food. The ducks are about eye level with little one (these are honking big ducks) but are pretty friendly. Little one has gotten some good quacking lessons from these neighborhood ducks.

Credits: Eirene's Just Another Day (from My Scrap Shop) and MCA Designs Digital Scissors and the Alpha from her Conrad kit.

Fall Day

Today was a beautiful fall day. They don't get much better here in Texas. Actually, since Ike, the weather has been pretty spectacular. Great days to be outside and play....which we have done this weekend.

Speaking of Ike. Our insurance company finally gave us their number for the damage....only around $8K. The contractor's quote, which we gave the insurance company, was about $20K. Hmmm. That is not good. Hubby will be dealing with this little wrinkle this week. Lucky him.

Little one suprises us almost every day. Yesterday, we went to a new park. This park has a couple of play areas and then one large tube slide. Little one played on the kid toys for awhile, then saw the bigger kids going down the big slide. The slide is about 15 feet up the hill and fully enclosed. She scampered up the hill and watched the other kids going into the slide for a few times. Then she climbed in and "weeeee" all the way down. A big smile on her face as she emerged from the tube....and then back up and down many more times. Dad and I were tired of going up and down the hill. This is the biggest slide she has been down but she just jumped right in. She is a brave little stinker.

I haven't gotten back to scrapping yet. MCA designs has some great new things (8, I believe!!) that I am going to have to put into my tool box. There are so many previews on these items that Mel made them their own page. You can view all the specials for today HERE.There is also a Freebie for you on Monday only. After Monday it will return to its regular price. Find everything at http://mcadesigns.blogspot.com/.

Have a great week.

I'm Back

I am back. We had soooo much fun. It is great to go but also great to come back.

My sisters, mom and I were trying to figure out how many years we have been meeting in Vegas. We believe it is about 12 years now. Since we all live in different parts of America, it is a central and cheap place to meet. We stay downtown where the maximum hotel per night is about $25. Most often, we end up with a night or two free. (This year, the four night hotel stay at the Four Queens cost $54..total.) Also, all but one of our meals was comped.

Obviously, it can be very expensive if you gamble a lot. We all save our money each year in a slush fund and then only spend that. If we lose our limit, we stop. This year was actually a great year for me. I lost my limit the first two days. The second two days, I WON!! I won a couple of times at the penny slots and won some at BlackJack and LetItRide (a poker kind of game). I ended up even for the four days. My sister was the big winner. She won 120000...pennies. But, hey, $1200 is nothing to sneeze at.

Every year, we go out one evening for a nice dinner and a show. Dinner was at Emeril's Delmonico restaurant...great steak, ...OK great everything. YUM! The show this year was chosen by Momma Bear. She chose Ultimate Manilow. Yup...an evening with Barry. Yes, I mock...but, yes.... I was singing and swaying along with every song.

Next week, I am going to Salt Lake City to go to a scrapbook convention. This is going to be sooo much fun. My best friend and I signed up for this many moons ago. It has taken forever to arrive but it is finally here. Next week will be four days of learning about, thinking about and doing scrapping. Can't wait.

I have finally gotten a layout finished. I have missed scrapping. So next week will be a great catching up time. This layout is of little one sleeping. For some reason, she likes to stick her feet out of her crib. She always manages to extricate herself. But it is just so humorous to see her two little feet sticking out.

Credit to Random Inpirations Lullaby Lambs kit. Also used MCA Digital Scissors, Stitches and Torn Paper. So much fun.

Credit the same kits plus Random Inspirations Monkey Beach party for the balloons.