CREDITS:

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

Friday, March 21, 2008

He Had It Coming

Brian mentioned in passing at work a few weeks ago that he thinks the character Dora is annoying. (Not that I disagree, I just can't figure out why this would have come up at his office. Sounds more like mommy park-bench chatter to me!) Any ways, Brian's birthday is tomorrow so his co-workers bought him a gourmet cake from one of the downtown bakeries today. When he went to go get a slice, he was greeted with a full-blown pink & purple Dora birthday party! There were balloons, character cake toppers and gifts of Dora figurines. (I was disappointed to hear there weren't Dora party hats - I would pay good money for a picture of Brian in one!) The funniest part of the story is that they all spent the rest of the afternoon quoting Dora. Brian was still doing it after he got home! I heard him changing Aiden's diaper, saying "Hola means Hello!"

So my 32 year-old had a Dora birthday party at work today! (Four year-old girls all over the world, eat your heart out.) Tiffany, you rock! Best practical joke ever!


Thursday, March 20, 2008

Scrap & Stuff

You shopped at Peppermint Creative and got the freebie and a bunch of fun new things, right? (May I recommend these Bracket Mats, on sale for $1.40? Because trust me, they're HOT! See more info below...)

Here is a page I did with the new freebie kit and some of the other peppermint easter goodies:



This was Aiden less than a year ago! That's my baby in his teeny preemie clothes that were STILL too big on him when this photo was taken! How can it be that he's grown so much??? This page kind of made me sad when I scrapped it. My little newborn is a toddler! Truth be told I would miss his mischevious laugh and constant antics if I were to go back in time to when he was this little. Funny how you can miss the past and so desperately want the present at the same time!

Jen Wilson Misc: Jen has a blog and she's letting her CT's write on it! Here is my submission for today. See what I mean about the bracket mats? They're a HUGE trend right now! Trust me on this one and just buy them now while they're on sale. You can use them for a thousand things, including journaling blocks & picture frames.

If you didn't read her blog yesterday then you missed out on the coupon code. Lucky for you a few users had problems with it so she put the whole site on sale for today only! This is pretty rare. Stock up!

Other News: Sweet tooths appear to be genetic and Aiden inherited Brian's! I made the boys a batch of cookies yesterday, just because I love them. Aiden was screaming for one while they were still dough balls on the cookie sheet so of course he got a warm cookie straight from the oven. (Is there anything better?) He LOVED it and I was pretty surprised when he began to say "kukee" after I had only mentioned the word two or three times. (I'm telling you, with men you have to link everything back to food! LOL!)

Kukee was a nice break from "good". He's been saying that EVERYTHING is good. And anything that is pretty, shiny or otherwise brightly colored is "mbuk" (book - yes, WITH the "m" first!) He's a riot! Of course "outside" is still a favorite.....to shout as he struggles against me to stand and look out his bedroom window while I try and change his diaper.... Did I mention that I can now diaper him while he is standing with his back turned to me? We're getting lots of practice with this new technique (read: compromise) and I'm sure the neighbors are getting lots of crotch-shots from that back corner room. I shouldn't complain. I can already tell someday soon I'm going to wish for the days when he was only naked INSIDE the house!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

A Tay Story (with pictures)

There is always something going on over here! Let me preface this by saying I hate eggs. I rarely eat them so I don't often cook them, hence the problem.

It all began with me deciding yesterday that I should probably get Aiden's easter eggs dyed if I was going to do them at all this year. Aiden & Brian both have birthdays back-to-back this weekend, we're having a party and family is going to be in town so they just had to be done. Yesterday I began boiling eggs while I fed Aiden lunch. He was done, cleaned up and down for a nap when I came back to get the eggs. I had boiled nine, because that's how many my ceramic easter egg display holds. Well, one must have had a crack that I didn't notice because egg white had leaked out of it as it boiled, ruining the egg. I was down to eight. I set up the dyes, dropped the first six in to be colored and then put one egg in a large bowl of water to hard boil in the microwave, to replace the one that had been ruined so I would have nine.

I was standing at the counter closest to our kitchen table (and furthest from the microwave) dying eggs when *KABOOM* there was this sound like a gunshot and I got splattered on the shoulder by something. It made me jump out of my skin! I turned to see that the egg I had put in the microwave had EXPLODED so violently, it had forced the door to the microwave open and shot egg across the entire kitchen! Bits of egg had landed on the kitchen table, the tile and surrounding counters. Yucky egg water was covering the bottom of the microwave and dripping out of the open microwave onto the stovetop below and running down the front of the oven to the floor. I stood completely frozen for a good 15 seconds, just taking in what had happened and cursing myself for not paying attention in high school when the boys used to talk about what would and would not blow up in a microwave.

The mess was awful. The smell of half-cooked, exploded egg filled the house and clean up took nearly an hour. I actually did think to grab my camera & take some pictures, if for no other reason than to prove that eggs will explode when nuked in their shell:







Here is what the stove & counter looked like. Click on the picture to view larger & look at the stove guard. THAT was all over the floor, all the way to the table, too. (Remember I got hit in the shoulder with flying egg debris? I was a full EIGHT FEET AWAY from the blast zone!)



Hilarious, right? I was laughing myself as I cleaned up all the mess. After everything was wiped down, I closed the microwave door and felt it weakly latch. And the light stayed on. I opened the door and closed it again. The light was still on. I pushed the door in harder. No change. So I hit the quick cook button and the microwave beeped an error to tell me the door was open. But it was closed. And the light was still on. OH CRAP!!!! I had broken the microwave.

Fast forward two hours and in walks Cleo, this darling old white-haired man from Beltway Appliance to fix my egg-bombed microwave. He is standing, facing my broken appliance when he asks how the door latch was busted. I tell him the story and although he keeps his back turned and his voice even, I can see his shoulders shake as he tries to hide his chuckles. (Brian was worse. When I called him at work, he could barely talk he was laughing so hard!) So Cleo gets to work disassembling the microwave to reach the popped door latch and disconnected sensor, with egg bits falling out of just about everything he removes. An hour and $75.76 later, the microwave works again!

If I total the cost of a dozen eggs, an egg dye kit, the five bags of candy and three chocolate rabbits from Wal-Mart AND the $75.76 to fix the microwave, this has added up to be a very expensive easter! And no, I never did dye a ninth egg.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

They're Here!

The freebie and new kits are up at PeppermintCreative!

30% off sale going on now, too!



Go check 'em out!!!

Too Much CANDY!

I had an *extremely* busy day yesterday and it didn't end until after 11 pm! Brian was a superhero and took Aiden right after dinner, bathed him and put him to bed so I could tackle my to-do list. It was already 7:30 and I was starting to worry about finishing a birth announcement for a friend, a layout for Jen, a jewelry order and making it up to Wal-Mart before bed to buy the things we needed for Aiden's party. When Brian offered to run to Wal-Mart for me while I finished my photoshop work, I jumped at the chance! I had already organized a shopping list with all the coupons clipped to it. Among the things we needed was some easter candy for Aiden's basket. I had cut several coupons from the Sunday paper and had intended to see what candy was on sale and then use the coupon on top of the sale price. There was a coupon for $1.50 off two bags of M&M/Mars brand candy, one for $2 off 3 bags of Hershey brand candy, a buy-one-get-one-free for a chocolate bunny and a $2 off coupon for a Russel Stover milk chocolate rabbit. Well, my shopping list simply said "easter candy" and I forgot to tell Brian that I only intended to use one of the coupons for candy and one of the coupons for a chocolate rabbit. Oops! So Brian comes in from Wal-Mart hauling FIVE BAGS of easter candy and THREE chocolate rabbits, swearing that all I do is spoil our child and wondering what on earth I was planning to do with so much candy! I couldn't help but laugh aloud and admit I had totally forgotten to tell him to only use half of the coupons! (Brian's response: "Well, the M&M's and Reeses Peanutbutter Cups are mine, then!)

We have a LOT of candy now. I had intended on putting some out at Aiden's party but I honestly have enough for the party AND to fill three easter baskets brim-full! Doesn't matter - I was so appreciative that Brian went to Wal-Mart for me that I didn't even care. Heck, Brian is NEVER in trouble when he brings home chocolate! LOL!

So here is what I was scrapping with Jen's new kit while Brian was out:



I have been impressed by how unisex her Creative Fortune kit is! There are some worn & weathered items for boy pages and glitter & flower elements for girl pages. I LOVE that piece of word art. Everyone does - it has shown up in every layout I have seen done! As usual, the papers are totally amazing. They have so much texture and are beautifully roughed up. I just learned last week that Jen is so good at making papers, she actually has her own line of real scrapbook papers! Now THAT is impressive!

Speaking of Jen, have you been over to her blog yet? Today there is a coupon code for something FREE so get over there!!!!!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Hey Scrappers, LOOK!

Do you have $2 for charity? If so, hop on over to Jen Wilson's brand new BLOG that just launched today to see her new kit! It's only $2 and all proceeds are being donated to the World Food Programme. What an awesome way to share your good fortune!



While you're there, be sure to bookmark her blog and add it to the list of blogs you check frequently. Jen is FAMOUS for her generosity so you never know when a fun new challenge or sweet surprise might show up! And yes, ONE-derful Wednesdays start up again this week where you can pick up a couple selected products for just a dollar. Yay!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Really Cool Things

FINALLY! There is a camera that can keep up with my rowdy kiddo! I didn't realize this when I bought it but my new powershot has a continuous shot option. This means, when I opt for that setting, I can simply set the focus and then hold the button down and the camera will take a picture every half-second. NICE! Now, I'm not sure if the pictures turn out crisp & clear. I haven't downloaded the ones I took of Aiden going down the slide (on his belly.....twenty times in a row....) but I'm hoping they'll be okay. My ISO was set correctly but he was also moving so we'll see! I already have a great idea for a LO using those images...

Next, check out these AWESOME hybrid projects made by a gallery member on Miss Mint's site: (images are clickable and go directly to the credits page)





Is that onsie not the COOLEST THING EVER?!! Megan is so creative and talented! Seriously, I am adoring these projects and am anxious to see if I can make a t-shirt for Aiden. Yay for inspiring people!

Okay, next thing. I was cleaning out my coupon organizer today and I have LOTS of coupons for Baby Oragel, Desitin, baby wipes, shampoo, etc. Anyone want these? I often tuck unwanted coupons - and especially formula checks - right next to the products they're for at the store because I don't like to see them wasted. But I have entirely too many to wedge in between products now! I keep the coupon organizer in my car so I'm never without it when I shop so if you see me, just ask for them!