10 unfinished projects...

that are DEFINITELY hanging over my head! That is the subject of the 2peas Blogger Challenge today and it did not take me long to fill that list. In fact, on our refrigerator I currently have a list of projects to be completed for each room in our home, yard and garage! Bishnu looks at that list and just groans. I look at that list and can't hep but grin. I love projects! So, here is my current Top 10 To-Do List (not to be confused with my Honey-Do List which is completely separate):

1. Finish all current Jonah layouts that are in progress.
2. Print pictures and scrapbook Minnesota trip.
3. Print pictures and scrapbook Jonah's 2nd Birthday Party.
4. Print pictures and scrapbook St. Louis trip.
5. Email St. Louis pictures to best friends (who were also on said trip).
6. Finish altered gardening book and start planning for next year's garden.
7. Start decorating Jonah's bedroom.
8. Start decorating our bedroom.
9. Organize my scrapbook area.
10. Finalize details for my Young Scrapper's Challenge for Sunday on 2peas.

There you have it, folks. Actually, now that I am thinking about all of this I am slightly daunted. Well, actually, very daunted. Is daunted a word? No? Hhm....

Anyways, I need to get going quick-like on some of this or it will never get done! Thanks for the motivation 2peas bloggers!

Ta ta for now!

Happy Birthday...

to me...Just thought I would share some baby pictures of me. That's all. Have a nice Wednesday!
















Me at 4 months

Me and my daddy

My "smurf" face...don't ask!

Me at 14 months

We're baaackkk...

from St. Louis! Saturday morning we left and met up with some of our friends at the St. Louis Zoo and spent the whole day there. Then on Sunday we had some fun at the Gateway Arch and a ferryboat ride! We all had a great time and wished that we could have stayed longer...We all live several hours away from each other now and haven't been able to get together nearly as much as we have wanted to. We were talking about making this a yearly thing though, so hopefully that will be remedied. Pictures will be uploaded shortly -We've been so busy that I simply haven't had time to get them from the camera to the computer!

*2peas blogger challenge!*
I've been scrapping 12x12 pages since I started scrapbooking in the 90's. I love the fact that they are large enough to place several pictures and journaling comfortably. I also love using textured cardstock as background paper, which just so happens to fit perfectly into 12x12 albums. I've never really gotten into the 8 1/2x11 albums for the reason that it is a little harder to find those in my area.
I have made a couple of 6x6 albums for baby showers and whatnot but would like to branch out a little more with them. I always seem to be thinking of these little albums that would be really cute to make but never seem to have the time to follow through with them. Since we got back this weekend I've actually been thinking about scrapping our St. Louis trip in a 6x6 album that I already have and making a 12x12 double lo for our regular album. *whew!* I think I had better get started on this...

A little of this and a little of that...Take 2...

Some adorable pictures of Jonah taken the day of his birthday party...He looks so grown up in these! And tan! Lord, that boy tans up quick! I'm sure it has nothing to do with his Asian father...

The car he's playing with here was actually *on* his birthday cake. This is what it looked like before he realized that those decals were paper and could be pulled off easily. It looks pretty naked now...

He really is starting to watch tv/movies more. I'm pretty sure he was watching the Cars movie here. In fact, it had to be. Because that is all we watched all day, every day for about a month straight. We're now branching out - we've added Finding Nemo and a Little Einstein dvd. Or in Jonah-ese, "Fish...Meemo?" and "Steinafoeijfawohfhi?". I love Jonah-ese. :o)

Have you ever read a book and right at the end, the author decides to switch things up a little and completely throw you off? Normally that doesn't bother me but...I finished a book the other night that I thought I had all figured out. I was just cruising along at the end waiting for the happy ending...and then *BAM!* Girl DOES NOT end up with boy (who was very,very handsome, btw, with gray eyes and built nicely....) but instead finagles around, gets upset with something he says and takes off. Granted, said boy did not use the best judgement and was a bit of a dolt but still! Said girl ends up pregnant, travels to a country far, far away and never tells boy about baby. And that's how it ends. WHAAATTT?! <--- That was my face at the end of the book. *sighhh* That is what I get for assuming! Good thing that was a library book.

Ta ta for now!

I've been doing a lot of...

shopping. Well, window shopping, that is. One of our ongoing projects right now (the one of many, I assure you...) is Jonah's room. We decided not to touch it when we moved into the house, knowing that he would be moving from his crib into a "big boy" bed fairly soon. So all this time I've been keeping an eye out for decorating ideas and found one that would be perfect! I recently found bedding offered at both Pottey Barn Kids and Target that is adorable AND affordable.

This Camp Bed is from Pottery Barn Kids and matches the bedding perfectly. I WILL NOT list the price for this bed (which almost gave me a heart attack) but will say that it is definitely out of our price range. I love the design and color - very boy-ish! And it would suit him for toddlerhood through his teenage years. *sigh* So I have been searching for unfinished wooden beds or a cheaper version of this same style in hopes that I can find something similar. I haven't given up hope but I did find these two (*psst* Look below!). They are Captain Beds (don't you love how they all have names and themes?) and just beyond cool! They have shelves and cubbies and all

sorts of little places to store little boy things. And these would definitely do well into his teenage years, also.

Look at that little door! Adorable! So now you see my quandry...cars theme vs. boat theme? What's a mother to do?! Please let me know your opinions, readers. I need them. Please help!

Ta ta for now!

Wow. I really need...

that digital camera I posted about awhile back. My phone camera just isn't cutting it anymore...I can't even believe I used my phone camera to take these! They're horrible! They're blurry, fuzzy and even though I sharpened, lightened, auto-fixed, etc. them to death they still look pathetic. Well, please, look past all of those imperfections and I promise I won't post any layouts that look like this anymore!


Jonah @ 6 months


A baby card

I used Bazzill cardstock for both the lo and the card. I love the stickers used on the card, too! Aren't they adorable?! I saw them and just had to have them. You know, I really don't consider myself a simple, streamlined scrapbooker but that is the direction I seem to be headed these days. I love looking at layouts that seem to hold much more than what I place on mine. I think I am always slightly worried that I will "overload" my pages and thus, they end up looking slightly bare to me but streamline and normal to others.

In scrapbook room/area news. I have a desk. And it has 3 picture frames on it. And I have yet to use it to scrapbook. WHAAAATTTT?! I know. Crazy, right? I really don't have any good excuses but I can come up with some pretty crappy ones: 1.) It's in the basement and we don't really use the basement all that much yet. 2.) I, uhm...well. I guess that's it, really. I'll try to come up with another one later. Seriously, it just doesn't feel "comfortable" to me yet. There is nothing down there except my scrapping stuff and like I said, we just don't really utilize that space yet. I think I'll end up feeling lonely down there and/or paranoid about Jonah being on a different level of the house and feeling the need to check on him every 10 minutes. I think I just need to suck it up and get down there already, right? Right??? Hmm, okay. I'll keep you all updated...

Ta ta for now!

I finally...

have July 4th pictures to post! I'm only a week late... :o) These are from the annual parade we attend locally. Jonah really had fun this year...Once he realized that he could watch cars, firetrucks and horses AND eat candy he had a total blast! In fact, he was so excited about picking up candy that he stuck the first piece he picked up straight into his mouth with the paper wrapping still on! (You can tell he eats a lot of candy, right?) While we were all laughing about that, he almost managed to stick another one in!

Me instructing Jonah

Let's see how many I can stuff in one hand - 1...2...3...

He really likes Tootsie-Rolls...That's all he practically wanted!


He had a flag to wave but he got tired of holding it so this is where it ended up. I love this shot...

I have more pictures to share but they'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm exhausted (it's nearly 1 am) and it's been a looong day. I'll be back tomorrow to share some scrappy stuff and some of those other pictures I just mentioned. Have a great night!

Ta ta for now!

A note from...

down under! I don't know if I have mentioned it on here or not but my brother and his girlfriend have arrived safely in New Zealand for their semester abroad! I'm so excited for them! The time difference is crazy but not totally unexpected for us - both Nepal and New Zealand are on the other side of the world. We haven't heard too much from them yet because they've been adjusting and trying to get their bearings. They seem to be having fun so far, though! As soon as we received an email from Bret I sent him a reply asking him all sorts of questions that I know he won't be able to answer for a few weeks but I couldn't help it! Hopefully we'll hear from him again soon.

Doesn't this cake...

look absolutely yummy? I made this Saturday before my parents and brother came over for dinner. It's actually a red velvet cake (from a box! *gasp*) with cream cheese icing and I just cut up some fresh strawberries for color and cuteness. We also had a shrimp dish Bishnu made that was delicious but sadly, I didn't take any pictures of it. Maybe one day I can get him to write down the recipe and I can post it on here. I swear, that man should have went to culinary school...he is such a wonderful cook! And I am one lucky wife! It sure does take the pressure off of me since I don't have to cook every.single.night. And we work very well together in the kitchen...no shoving or jockeying for space. Saturday night reminded me that we really should cook together more often.

Tonight 'the girls' came over and we carried, shoved and pushed Bret's desk downstairs to my designated scrapbook area. It is so nice just to see it sitting down there instead of on our front porch and I'm already feeling much more motivated. I still need storage for my tools and supplies but hope to find some of them at Goodwill and/or yard sales. I've already found a small spice rack to store small embellishments and flowers. Hopefully I'll have the same luck while searching for bookshelves, cases and the like.

I've added a couple of frames and our clock to the space above the mantel for now. It isn't what I want above the fireplace ultimately but it does go a long way to make the living room feel more home-y and comfortable. I'm on the lookout for smaller clocks to make a sort-of vignette of clocks on the wall. Actually, what we REALLY want above the fireplace is a wall-mounted flat screen tv. But as I mentioned several posts before, we don't really have an extra $900 - $1000 laying around (and if we did I can think of several other important things it could go towards first! lol) so this will make do! The frame on the right has two pockets and will hold wedding memoribilia. The two picture frames on the left hold pictures of Jonah (left is more recent - 2yrs. and right is 1 yr. pic). Those three items and the clock (Target) were all wedding gifts. :o) I love that I am finally able to use some of those wonderful things we received! Hopefully I can find a dining room table soon so I can finish up the dining room. All that has happened in there so far is the pretty blue paint - wish me luck!

Ta ta for now!