scrapbooker for hire

August. Where did you go?

Here I am on September 3rd very confused as to what just happened to the entire month of August. I scrapbooked ONCE last month (which I'll share later). I have precisely 25 days of summer break left. Like, what the fuck happened to the rest of it? Plenty, yes.  But I have not spent nearly enough time doing crafty things this summer. So, that's what I intend on doing for the rest of it (now cross your fingers for me that life doesn't interfere).

As for those of you interested in the giveaway, don't fret. I haven't forgotten. In fact, I even have a winner! It's Liz (JavaGirl). She'll be receiving a package full of Rusty Pickle's Rockin' America line to do something wonderful with. =)

This picture's from a few weeks ago when we were in the backyard. She's showing me a rolly-polly. See it in her fingers? She's pretty funny when it comes to bugs. She's calls them buggees and goes, "eeeewwwww, grooooooossss" in a really deep man voice and then she laughs hysterically for a minute before she does it all over again. Some bugs she's totally fine with others she refuses to touch for reasons unbenounced to me. She's weird.

I love this picture because for some reason it reminds me of Summer when I was a kid. 

Her favorite color is yellow. She loves to color with colored pencils of which she calls, "pi-nays" and I have no idea why. She's pooped on the potty a few times (the first half of the first poop in the potty scared her right back into her diaper where she finished with the last half of said poop). She says her name is "Terwance" and frequently asks, "Mom, wus your mame? wus puppies mame? wus daddy's mame?" 

She really, really loves to feed her puppy snacks and scratch his belly. I'm really excited to see these two grow up together.

Oh, and we went to the beach a few weekends ago. I'm ashamed to say that it was T's first real beach trip where she actually got to play in the sand and see the ocean. She surprisingly wasn't that impressed by it (the ocean) but loved all the sand and sticks and rocks and other beach debris that was laying around. She spent her time collecting rocks (which wasn't a surprise) and picking up trash (because she's the resident litter patrol).

I have some news to share in my next post so, stay tuned for that.

And, I'll leave you with a few more of my favorite beach pictures.

if I had to describe her with a single word it'd be, amazing.

Mostly because she can pull off this ---------> hair do.  =)

Also, because she now asks herself what a cow says and then answers appropriately.

Because she absorbs every last bit of information she's given.

Because she can count to three... "one... twoooo...  freeee."

Because she randomly sings, "I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map" from Dora.

Because she grabs my hand and says, "Come on mommy."

Because when she goes to bed she says, "see ya in the morning."

*sigh* I love this little girl.

p.s. Mad men starts in less than a month and I am ecstatic.

p.s.s. New projects to follow shortly. =)

Today has been a great day.

For the second year in a row we got up, got dressed and went to Independence for the day. We like it because the crowds are significantly smaller than at the events in Salem and we're able to let T out of her stroller to run.

The festivities were set up in a park that runs parallel to the river thus, T got to throw rocks, of which she loves to do. I used to think that she loved it so much and would do it all day if we'd let her. Well, today was that day. Joe and I were sitting on the shore, basking in the sun, totally enjoying the moment and she could have thrown rocks for as long as she wanted. Much to my surprise however, not so long after our arrival T tossed in a final rock, turned and said, "okay mommy, I wanna pway" and proceeded to walk to the play ground. Okay then, little miss two year old making her own decisions...??  This is new.

While I'm on the topic and because I've been meaning to write it down anyways, here is what T's doing right now:

Loving Elmo...who she adoringly calls,  "melmo."

Loving her baby dolls her, "beebees." =)

She calls milk, milks; shoes, shoesies; Joe, Joe and all day today it was, Joe mommy--which is kinda like Joe momma, which makes it hilarious.

She melts my heart with her manners: "pwease" and "tant tu."

She's beginning to test her boundries more and more which I'm assuming comes with the territory of toddlerism.

Every day she points out her observations..the plane that she can hear but can't see and and asks, "where's dat pwane mommy?", the lawn mower on TV which she then tells me is like Joe's, the "ummmmy" pizza at the grocery store.

She's pretty much the most amazing person I've ever known.

That's it for now but, I have more for tomorrow. I've already decided that I'm going to be a better blogger so, yeah, more things coming soon.

okay, now you hang up.

p.s. yes, we're totally lame and are going to bed instead of going to watch the fireworks.

a few things.

I've been known to be growing-things-and-keeping-them-alive challenged. Which is weird because my mom can landscape and keep things beautiful and luscious green like it's going out of style and, my sister can at least keep a house plant alive.  Me, not so much.  My mom was up here last week and for my early birthday present she cleaned out the flower beds in front of our house and planted some beautiful flowers. She then gave me instructions on how to keep them alive. Well, she also said that Western Oregon is the best place to learn how to keep and maintain a yard because everything grows here and it's very hard to kill anything. So, I've decided that I am up for this--I'm going to keep those suckers alive...and then some! I've been inspired (by my new, old house) to have things green and beautiful on the inside so I even went out and bought myself a house plant. The kind that my mom says are pretty much impossible to kill so, I'm thinking that it'll be good practice before I get something more exotic. Thanks mom for everything you did and for all of your help! I obviously could not have done it without you!

While T napped yesterday I finished painting my dining room. And, I covered the entire floor with plastic so as not to have a repeat of my paint-on-the-floor catastrophe. T woke up early and I didn't want to put my things away so I stripped her down to a diaper and put her on the floor with her washable paint, a paint brush and some paper. It would be an under statement to say that she loved it...because she really, really, really LOVED it! The girl LOVES to paint. I'm thinking of printing off a few of this pictures fairly big (8x10, maybe larger) and hanging them in the dining room. Wouldn't that be a great? Pictures of T painting in the dining room hanging in the dining room....yep, I like it!

Joe went fishing today and later we're having some friends over for a BBQ. I'm totally excited because it's the first one since we've moved in. So, I've gotta go and get a jump on all that needs to be done for today.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day!

Just three more weeks to go.

Three more weeks of writing mathematical proofs, reasoning the convergence and divergence of a series and writing cute little beginner computer programs that are seriously, a bit ridiculous.  Just three more weeks and then I'll be back to spending my entire day with this gorgeous little baby girl. Who is, by the way, growing into more of a gorgeous little toddler every single day (which I can hardly believe). Did you know that in nearly a month she'll be two? It's absolutely insane how fast these years have gone by.

We've recently met a couple that lives in our apartment complex (Anne & David) who have a four year old little boy (Ian). He and Terrance have been best of friends since they met.

Today we took a dual family trip up to the Portland Zoo. Anne and I drove up together with T and Ian which was so cute. They totally entertained each other the entire way and made the hour long car drive much better together than they would have alone.

At the zoo Terrance wanted to hold Ian's hand pretty much the entire time, which was the cutest thing that I think I've ever seen (aside from when they hug each other goodbye which is seriously the cutest thing I've ever seen). We packed a picnic lunch and sat on the grass to eat. At one point T was feeding Ian grapes. =)  We finished the trip with a train ride of which both of the kids loved. Why? I don't know; the cars were sweltering hot and I could have walked faster than the train was moving. Not to mention the views of the "exhibit under construction" were not what I paid for. in the end though, the kids had a blast and T had a great nap when we got home. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

Sadly, I have no scrappy projects to share and probably won't for at least a month. The house appraisal came back and now all we have to do is sign the papers on June 4th and we can start moving! So, needless to say we must start packing and my scrapbooking room will be the first to go. "Where else are we going to stack all of the  boxes?" my husband says.

I'll tell you where...

today was a beautiful day.

T and I spent the afternoon running through the park playing on the play ground, collecting sticks, rocks and flowers and chasing the squirrels. It's days like this that make me wish I had a nicer camera. For the last five years I've been shooting with a Kodak Easyshare something or other and while I'll admit that it's gotten me some nice pictures it absolutely cannot keep up with this girl. Plain and simply, it just takes too long to take the damn picture and by the time it finally snaps, the photo op has come and gone...again. So, I'm putting it on "the list," which is the list of big ticket items we keep in our heads and whenever we have lots of extra money, we cross a few things off of it. =) So, within the next year I'll have a new camera.

Anywho, this weekend is going to suck.  I'd love to take full advantage of the fact that it's mother's day and make my husband wait on me hand and foot but, I have a crap ton of homework and will be spending my days at the library. Tomorrow I will spend roughly eight hours writing mathematical proofs. The next day I will spend however much longer it takes me to finish the proofs, do my calculus homework and then study for my computer science quiz. While I'm on the subject, here's the layout that I completed yesterday reminding myself why I'm studying these things

Products: Rusty Pickle patterned paper, file folders, and alphabet stickers. Basic Grey chipboard alpha and Doodlebug stickers.

The journaling reads: Because for as long as I can remember I've loved numbers. Because in elementary school I thought the timed math tests were fun. Because counting is a favorite past time. Because the more I know the more I want to know. Because from the first moment that I sat in front of a computer I've loved them. Because computer science flourished from mathematics. Because it's learning a new language. Because it's something that happens naturally in the world which we live. Because it's beautifully technical. Because it's awe inducing and inspiring. Because it makes me happy. Because there's nothing else I want to do more.

That's it. I'm off to bed. Have a great weekend!

finally, something worth posting.

Instead of being responsible and taking advantage of the long weekend to do homework and study ridic ulous math ematical proof methods, I scrap booked.   This is a picture from our Louisiana trip. Somehow this little girl from an apartment in the city became a lover of every where and every  thing outside. She kneeled there for awhile and just pulled up the weeds. The friends we visited lived in the forest next to a lake so, needless to say, there was no shortage of nature. Of which Terrance loved every second of. =)

Products: Rusty Pickle patterned paper, alpha stickers, chipboard photo corners and leafs and rubon.

The journaling on the page is about what she's been up to recently: talking like it's going out of style and saying the cutest thing ever like,  "Is k Joe?." Like, are you okay, Joe? Because we ask her if she's okay when she stumbles and falls or whatever and so, being the sweetest thing ever, she asks other people if they're okay. The other day we were at the store and there was a baby in a shopping cart crying and when Terrance saw and heard him she looked at me square in the eyes and said, "Is k mom? Is k?"

"Yes love, he's okay." 

"Is k mom? Is k?"

Awww, she's just so stinking sweet!

These are two cards that I whipped up for mother's day. One is for my mom and the other for my bff's mom, who is like a second mother to me. =) All products on them are by Rusty Pickle, with the exception of the itty bitty alpha stickers, ribbon and the brad.

Both of these pictures of the babe are from the new house. We were there the other day for the home inspection and she passed the time collecting rocks and playing soccer by herself. Not because we don't want to play with her but because when we do she laughs so hard that she falls over every five steps. So, for her own good, we sit out every once in awhile.

 

already an artist.

We've recently discovered finger painting and the babe loves it. Notice the focus in her  eyes?

*Note: her mad scientist look is a product of pigtails all morning and then a two hour nap. I think it works for her.*

Hope you're having a great weekend!

and the winner is...

Angela Vorderstrasse! Congratulations and THANK YOU ALL for playing.  It was so awesome to read about everyone. And, I was pleasantly surprised by a few of you gals that I knew when I worked at the scrapbooking store. WE MISS YOU TOO! *hugs* Thank you for all the compliments and kind words and for introducing yourself.  =)  Hopefully you won't be so shy in the future and will be willing to say hi more often. Or, hey maybe even start a blog of your own that I can stop by.

Alright, that's all I have time for this morning. Thanks again everyone and have a great day. I know I will, it's supposed to be 60 and SUNNY today!  =)

Oh, and this is T a few weeks ago when she was sick and obviously not amused but, still super cute.

kato the triceratops.

he's a robotically animated "real" baby dinosaur that giggles when his tummy is rubbed and purrs when you scratch under his chin. he has fabric leaves that he "crunches" on when they're placed in his mouth. he roars, he blinks, and he wags his tail. he is absolutely adorable and up until a few days ago cost nearly $300. now though, they're only $99 and that's a deal joe and i couldn't pass up. when i called the target at keizer station this morning and confirmed that they had them in stock (unlike every other store in town) joe was on his way!

i mean really, what kid wouldn't want their very own baby triceratops that roars, groans, eats fabric leaves and wiggles his horns to jungle music? terrance has been a big dino fan since she got her first dino book as an infant. and for christmas we got her a set of little action figure like baby dinosaurs and she loves them. seriously, how could we go wrong with a 3 foot animated dinosaur?

when joe got home terrance was excited just to see his picture on the side of the box and when we took him out she could hardly contain herself. it was love at first sight. she climbed on  started bouncing and then gave him lots of kisses.

then (this is where it went horribly wrong), we put the batteries in and turned him on. once he roared and blinked his big robotic eyes it was all over. terrance's screams were filled with terror. she ran to me, wrapped her arms around my neck and inserted her fingernails into my skin where they stayed until the dinosaur was removed from the room. the upside is that she's totally digging the box that he came in.