CREDITS:

Digital scrap items in the header, layouts and sidebar are by Miss Mint at PeppermintCreative.com or Jen Wilson at JenWilsonDesigns.com

Thursday, February 7, 2008

House Cleaning & A Lesson on 10 Month Olds

Since monday was full of visiting friends, today was my house cleaning day. Really not that exciting.... Aiden is learning to play by himself pretty well (read: get in to everything on his own pretty well) but he still does want a lot of my attention. I am learning to rotate toys and working as fast as I can to get that STUPID bead room organized. (We pulled everything out of the closet to install new shelves and I am sending three pieces of furniture home with my mom, so all the items in the drawers must come out. This is why it is taking FOREVER!) The floor is finally clear enough for Aiden to really sprawl out and play, although the project is still on-going. The rest of the closet shelves will need to be built by my handsome, handy hubby once all the furniture is out and the sorting and organizing will continue. Seriously, I wish someone would have told me this project was going to take months.

The thing I learned today is that if you need to get something done, play with the baby FIRST! I know that sounds backwards but honestly, it works. When I just couldn't take the fussing any more, I sat down to play with Aiden. After about 8 minutes he was tired of my company and was playing on his own again. So I got up and had a good 20 minutes of peace to get things done! (Of course I came back to find the junk mail pulled out of the trash we keep next to the mail center but whatever. That small mess is worth the quiet time!) When he started crawling after me and fussing from boredom again, I let him hold the vacuum nozzle, while the vacuum was running, and pointed it under the kitchen cabinets. We have a Dyson so it can suck things up from several inches away. He didn't seem to like the noise but all his jerky movements nudged the vacuum hose around enough that it actually did vaccum up all the crumbs he'd managed to get under there for the day and bought me just enough time to get the towels put away! Us poor moms and the things we have to deal with. Brian STILL has not had Aiden for a full 12 hours while trying to clean a whole house. I think he realizes it's difficult but you don't really KNOW until you have done it. With a crabby 10 month old....who is coming down with his FIFTH cold in four weeks! Is it crazy to say that even after all of this, I am still so happy to be his mom and have the opportunity to stay home with him?!! LOL!

When I'm old, I know I will have forgotten about all the screaming, snot-wiping and messes and all I will remember from today is playing on the floor. And maybe that I let him vacuum! :)

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

A New Kit Afterall

Miss Mint surprised us all with a new kit! Lucky for you, it's going to be in the shop tomorrow so you're getting it nearly as fast as her CT did! Here's my page:



This LO is pretty heavily recolored and uses a bunch of other elements. You'd better check out the REAL kit preview on her blog.... Seriously, I don't know how I came up with that from a PINK kit! What you really should be asking is how Miss Mint created a pink, black & ivory kit with toile prints when we were brainstorming completely different colors! LOL! Everything on here is Miss Mint's so if you see something you like, be sure to grab it. (Can you tell I have suddenly gotten in to her Metal Glass Pebbles? I am loving how these look!!!)

I'd like to give an extra special thanks to Kelsey for getting that shot at the park today while Aiden was being so disinterested in the playful advances from the girls that were there. His little skull & crossbone tee says it all: his charming, smiling, flirty stage has passed!

Photo Re-Post: Place Your Orders!

For my family that didn't get to see the pictures I posted a few weeks ago. These are some of my favorites! Let me know what shot you want and I'll send some prints!


Love,
Tay



Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Really Quick Page & Post

I fear I may forever be back-scrapping! I hadn't done Aiden's 2 month title page yet and when I paired this picture with these elements, it came toegther quickly. I'm really loving some of my new supplies! (Of course there is still quite a bit of Miss Mint's stuff on this page, too.) Aiden will have a good mix of layout styles in his book. Isn't this picture of him asleep in Brian's arms priceless?



How can it already be going on 2 pm? This day has FLOWN by. I need to get to the store for some more fresh foods but that will have to wait until Aiden wakes up from his nap. Oh, that reminds me!

Diet Update: Glad I kept going because this morning the scale had dropped. I keep telling myself I'm getting skinnier by the minute to encourage me to keep eating my turkey sandwiches and apple slices instead of chips & dip. I really, really need to add more exercise though. (No, Kels. I'm not interested in joining the gym until Aiden can walk and not have to be fussing in the under-one corral while I work out!) I think I'll get back in to going to the workout room at night. I do enjoy working out at night with my iPod blaring! Maybe I'll download some new songs and go hit the elliptical tonight!

If you are going to do this diet, beware. You will need to make 2-3 trips to the grocery store per week to keep fresh foods in the house and it takes a bit more preparation & cooking time than usual. I didn't realize how many convenience foods, like bagged salad kits, boxes of rice pilaf or stuffing, cans of soup and other things like that I was using. They make life so much easier! The funny thing is this diet is more expensive because of how much lean meat, fresh dairy & produce you consume. Good food is so EXPENSIVE these days!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Adobe Addict Indeed

Okay, so I can't go longer than a week without fresh scrap supplies. Since my favorie "dealer" is overloaded with projects, I have gone running wild all over digi world, as she puts it (ROFL!), and picked up some new items. ;) These pics of Aiden were just BEGGING to be scrapped!



Geez, could that baby have eyes any more clear and glassy? One glance is going to make girls crumble when he's in high school.

Here's My First Layout

I have been saying for weeks that I would post the first LO I ever did on my blog and today I finally got around to doing it:



It is such a simple page but I still like how it looks! It's just a polaroid frame tucked behind some ribbon strips with a small element cluster. Nothing too fancy but it was a great place to begin. (Take my advice and start off with something EASY!)

Diet: The Superbowl party last night was bound to do me in. I actually was pretty good but perhaps I had a bit too many cheese & crackers because for the first time since I started the diet, I didn't loose any weight yesterday. Oops! Not a problem, I'll just keep going like nothing happened and in the end, it won't matter hardly at all. I am proud of myself that I didn't have a single brownie! It was the smoked gouda cheese that did me in.....LOL! I really love gourmet cheese!

You can probably tell the bead room and other projects are keeping me away from my blog. Miss Mint is giving us a two week break and I am kind of enjoying being computer-free for a while. I just have to get that playroom put together.... Thanks for installing all the shelves in the closet for me, Bri. You are SO HANDY! I love it!