A to Z... All About Me

I saw this on Gina's blog and call me crazy, but I enjoy these things sometimes...

A - Available or single: Married...
B - Best friend: My aunt Mary... we were friends before she was my aunt
C - Cake or pie: Either one, heck! why not both?
D - Drink of choice: not pregnant... coke pregnant... anything that doesn't make me wanna puke
E - Essential item you use everyday: soap
F - Favorite color: right now it's red
G - Gummy bears or worms: worm
H - Hometown: Jacksonville, FL
I - Indulgence: a Twix
J - January or February: I don't really like either month...
K - Kids & names: Three - Hannah -2 & "Paprika" due in April
L - Life is incomplete without? my family
M - Marriage date: October 12
N - Number of siblings: oldest of 5
O - Oranges or apples: allergic to both, but i love the smell of apples
P - Phobias or fears: BUGS of any kind, especially roaches
Q - Fave quote: "Stand for Something" Gordon B Hinckley... also a book by him
R - Reason to smile: my little girl
S - Season: We don't have seasons here. In Utah & up north, I LOVE spring... can't beat the smell of lilacs
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: If you are reading this, I expect to see it on your blog! :)
U - Unknown fact about me: hmmm... my life is an open book...
V- Vegetable you don't like: celery. really, what is the point. it just gets stuck in your teeth
W - Worst habit: being cranky with Hannah & Thomas
X - Xrays: No thanks! I'm pregnant!
Y - Your fave food: Filet Mignon from Ruth's Chris or a good BBQ beef sandwich with a sweet potato on the side... hey! I am pregnant and hungry all the time! :)
Z - Zodiac sign: Leo. But I don't really pay attention to it.

Do you like my new look?

I think I have the after-Christmas blues... I needed something bright and cheery to liven things up! And Robin's kit did the trick! I tried to do a wintery theme to my blog header, but I just couldn't make it work! It was 77 friggin' degrees here today!!!!! And about 95% humidity! I actually decided to go with a black background because I really like how Audra's layouts stand out against the black background on her blog.

I am taking down my tree on MONDAY! I am so excited I can't stand it! I never thought I would feel that way. Every year I get so sad when I have to take it down. I don't know why I am in such a hurry to get it down. I think it is because I get to rearrange my furniture when it comes down and I can't stand how crowded and cluttered my house looks right now. I will miss the pretty white lights and I am sure that when it is actually down I will be a bit sad. I had a really hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. In fact, I still haven't finished all of my Christmas presents... still working on a few projects. :)

I realized that I am in a very earthy natural scrapbook mood lately. I can't seem to break out of it, either. I look at brightly colored kits and don't know what to do with them. Maybe changing my blog will help! I had so much fun with Robin's kit. We'll see...

I have a secret....

and no, I am NOT having twins! I can just see my inbox filling up with questions about that one! :) This is about digiscrapping... but I can't tell anyone until January 1st, so you'll all have to wait a few more days! I am hoping to have a new blog design up and going by then. It could happen... just because I haven't started working on it yet doesn't mean anything!

Okay, I swear that December just started! It is NOT possible that it is the 30th already. I am 23 weeks pregnant! MORE THAN HALFWAY! But just barely and I am already miserable more than I am not. I promise I wasn't this big with Hannah yet. Mornings are okay, but by nighttime I am HUGE!!! I think this little girl just wants to stretch out and play at night. I can't breathe and the heartburn is terrible! EVERYTHING gives me heartburn. I can't drink anything. Water gives me heartburn. I am allergic to dairy and fruit juices. I am allergic to Splenda & NutraSweet. I can't drink too much soymilk or I get sick. I can't drink citrus so that rules out lemonade or tang. Soda is terrible! I have to drink a Pepsi or Mountain Dew every afternoon for my headaches, so I make sure that I do NOT lay down after drink it. I am trying to drink some cherry kool-aid right now. We'll see if that works. Anyone have suggestions?

I went to Ross today and got 4 really cute pairs of maternity capris. I had to return a bunch of stuff for my mom, so I didn't have to pay anything! Well, I ended up paying $5. I felt so strange buying stuff just for myself. I tried to find something that Thomas would like but they didn't have anything. And then I was going to get a dress for Hannah, but I didn't love it for the price. And I was going to get something for Baby Paprika, but I have BINS and BINS of clothes in my garage. I just can't justify buying more clothes for her yet. Although I should be looking for her My First Christmas outfits. I could probably get those pretty cheap. Hannah had such cute Christmas dresses that it makes me sad that Baby Paprika won't wear them. Maybe someone else will have a baby girl in time for Christmas...

Okay, cherry Kool-Aid isn't working... or maybe it's the tortilla chips. I'm not eating salsa with them, though.. I think I am just going to have to deal with this until she drops. I am already taking 150mg of Zantac twice a day. Can't up that dosage. Any suggestions? Anyone?

Christmas Photos

I didn't get a single good Christmas photo... But here are a couple anyway!

This is Hannah in her Christmas dress from Grandma Ruthie on Christmas Eve. I can't get her to sit still even long enough to take a picture!

This is Hannah and Uncle Jacob (my brother) on Christmas Eve. Uncle Jacob (& Aunt Amber) got Hannah a Dora doll and those adorable gaucho girl pants!

Hannah with her stocking... It's supposed to be a decorative stocking, but I decided not to buy a new stocking until next year when I get one for the new baby, too.

Hannah playing Dora Chutes & Ladders with Mommy & Daddy. She wasn't too sure about this whole taking turns thing! She liked moving her Dora figure and counting the spaces. She LOVED spinning the little spinner. We had to pry it out of her hands when it was someone else's turn!

just another day...

Isn't it sad? Just 3 days ago I was bustling around here trying to get everything done and now today is just another day! Christmas is over for the year. I am really itching to taking down my Christmas tree and start organizing things around here. If it weren't for that whole bad luck to take your tree down before New Years thing, I would do it. I am not a superstitious person, but with all we have going on this year I'm not taking any chances! :) We need all the good luck we can get!

3 posts in ONE DAY!

Please, don't die of shock... just scroll down and pretend that they are from 3 different days! :) I feel like one of those wind-up toys that just can't stop chatting today! And I don't have anyone to chat with right now! :) Everyone is busy getting ready for Chrismtas! I actually just have a couple of photos to post now. And if my camera would ever finish transferring photos I could do it! :)
In an effort to relieve some stress, I grabbed a hammer and pounded the old
bottom of our Christmas tree, and put it in the new stand. So, our tree leans a little to
the right, and it pretty lopsided, but at least it is standing upright again and we can use
the lights! :)


We took Hannah to see Santa yesterday at the mall. It is actually the same Santa that
Hannah has seen every year. We had to wake her up from her nap to see Santa, so
we didn't even bother with the purchased photo. We knew we would be lucky
if she would even talk to him! So, Hannah had to sit on the chair next to
Santa while I snapped a quick photo. Not gonna happen! Thomas had to hold her there for me to snap this one! Then she was upset later about not telling Santa what she wants to Christmas. Little monster!

And this is one for my sister-in-law, Chrissy, who requested a pregnant belly photo! :) I am almost 22 weeks. Please remember that this photo was taken at 8pm after a LONG day and no sleep the night before. And I have started swelling... it's already started! :) You won't even recognize me in a couple of months!

More stuff...

I just read my sister-in-law, Leslie's, blog. And I completely agree with her! The reason that times seems to fly is that the stores don't let you enjoy the season you are currently in. They are already pushing the next holiday down our throats before this one is even done!

I know I say this every year, but this time I am DETERMINED! I will get everything done for next year before Dec 15th. We have been so rushed trying to get everything done this year that it doesn't even feel like Christmas! Of course, it is 80 degrees outside so that doesn't help. I did get some baking done for friends but I had to stay up until 2am to get it done so it could be delivered at church. I did digital Christmas cards so that was pretty simple. But my house is a WRECK! I don't have any thing wrapped yet. I have 4 loads of clean laundry on my loveseat waiting to be folded, 2 loads of dirty laundry on my bedroom floor waiting to be washed. 2 bathrooms that haven't seen bleach in about 2 days! And a family room floor that hasn't been seen in days either! Hannah has it completely covered with toys. And I think I am getting sick! I have had a sore throat for about two days now. I am not sleeping at night again and I can't take naps. I love being pregnant! The next time I even think about wanting another child, someone remind me that I don't SLEEP when I am pregnant! Merry Christmas!

Traci Reed's Creative Team!!! & other stuff

I don't think I ever mentioned this! I was a Guest CT in November for Traci Reed. Then she asked me to stay on for December and I applied for a 6 month term with her CT and was accepted! So, at least until June I am on Traci's CT!!!!!! I am so excited! She is so talented! And she just started selling at NDISB.

Also, I made popcorn balls last night. Well, technically I used the popcorn ball recipe and actually put them flat in a 9x13 pan instead of shaped in balls. Hannah doesn't like them and Thomas doesn't either, so yet another dessert that I get to eat all by myself! They are so good and so easy to make! AND they stick to your teeth! So much fun for little kids! Here' s the recipe...
Bring to a boil:
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo (light)
1 small box Jell-O (any flavor - I LOVE raspberry at Christmas)
When it boils, add 1/4 tsp. baking soda and stir until it foams. Then pour it over popcorn. One batch of topping will cover 3 bags microwave popcorn. Stir the popcorn until it is completely covered. Then with buttered hands, shape the popcorn into balls. This will BURN your hands so be careful! OR you can take the less painful route and just spread it into a wax-paper lined, cooking-sprayed baking pan. Then just pull of a chunk when you want it!

I was going to make lime ones, too, but since no one but me liked it, we're gonna have to find a different baking project for today! I actually need to go out and find canning jars for tomorrow morning's baking project. I started baking cakes in jars last night and ran out of the right kind of jars. I have to have 30 jars done by tomorrow morning so I can take them to the church and leave them in the fridge there. I don't have room in mine. We are making them as gifts for the teachers in our children's primary (like children's sunday school). I have to be at the church at 10:30 tomorrow morning for the Christmas program rehearsal. So I'll be up baking at the crack of dawn! ;) Hannah is gonna love me tomorrow! :) She'll probably be running in between the pews tomorrow making a big mess and being loud! She is such a stinker! But a darn cute one today! Her hair is perfectly curly today and she is just in a funny little mood!

I think my blog may get a makeover in the next few weeks! I am getting tired of this one again... I think I will keep the white background and just change the topper and some of the info... It's all outdated! I need to make a new blinkie, too. I should probably get my layout assignments done first, though! Okay...I'm going now!

I've created a "Crappin'" MONSTER!

Over the last several days I have been cleaning out my craft closet and I found TONS of unscrapped photos and TONS of scrapbooking supplies. Well over 2000 sheets of cardstock! And that doesn't include the patterned papers! So, I decided that rather than scanning the old photos and digiscrapping them, I am going to ...gasp... PAPER SCRAP them! If I can even remember how! I am sure that about halfway through the project I will get frustrated and start digiscrapping again. But this will give me a project to work on at night while Thoma has the computer comandeered. I'll be a digiscrapper by day, but a PAPER SCRAPPER by night! :) I so feel like a superhero! :)
So, on to the "'crappin" monster creation... Have you seen the Blues Clues episode about The Great Big Book About Us? Well, it is Hannah's favorite! They make a big scrapbook about their favorite things. So, we were at AC Moore yesterday and Hannah started talking about wanting to make a "'crapbook" about her things. So, I bought her a little $.79 brag book album and some Dora stickers and Mickey stickers and told her that we would start on it after Christmas was all done. She has done nothing but bug me about her "'crapbook" since we left the store. We are going to take some photos of her favorite things and have them printed. It is only a 10 page 4x6 album so it probably won't take her long to fill it up. But I figured it will give her something constructive to do and the entire thing will cost less than $10, including getting photos printed. I am just going to print 2x3 photos, 4 to a 4x6 sheet. Maybe it will even keep her quiet during church... wishful thinking!
Speaking of church, Thomas and I are narrating the Christmas program this year. I haven't even looked at the program. And my throat is starting to get sore... last year the entire choir, the pianist and I (the narrator) were all sick. I started choking halfway through one of my readings. I was choking so badly that I had tears streaming down my face. I couldn't stop reading though because the entire reading was set to music! I didn't want to throw off the timing! Everyone thought I was just emotional. lol We'll see what happens this year. At least the readings aren't set to music so I can stop and cough if I need to!
We are going to take Hannah to see Santa today... maybe. It depends on how long the line is. If we ever leave the house!!!!!!! I have been waiting for TWO HOURS for my girl of a husband to get ready. As soon as the tv goes on in our room I know it will be at least an hour before he is ready. I walked in there with his freshly ironed shirt an hour ago and he hadn't even made it to the shower yet. A good episode of Scrubs was on and he HAD to watch it...with the shower running! At least we don't pay for the water here. It is 80 degrees and rainy outside today. Hannah can't even wear one of her Christmas shirts to get her photo taken with Santa because they are all long-sleeved. I am probably just going to take it with me. Her hair is a MESS, too, because of the humidity! I hope I charged my camera battery. And I need to get some mini-DVs for the video camera, too. The to-do list is getting longer the more I wait for Thomas... he's gonna love it!

Just a quick hello...

Things have been so crazy around here getting ready for Christmas! I baked all last weekend and all the Christmas cookies are now gone! I actually think there are a few M&M cookies and a few pieces of fudge, but I have successfully eaten ALL of the Santa's Butter Cookies and the Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal cookies! Can't blame any of it on Thomas either. He doesn't like either kind of cookie. We made 10 plates of goodies for friends and family here in Jacksonville. Mostly friends, since our family deserted us here in Florida. :) I am finished with my Christmas shopping. I still have to make some Christmas presents for family... I'll post photos after Christmas just in case any of my family is actually reading this! Let's just say I found a very inexpensive way to make an adorable personalized gift! So cute! :)

And, just in case anyone is reading my blog who digiscraps... be sure to check out the RAKScraps December 2006 Mega Kit on CD and the admin add-on kit, too! Oh my goodness! This one is amazing! I have the Add-On kit already and am anxiously awaiting each mega kit download link. BUT if you don't want to wait for each link to be posted individually, you can purchase the CD with the entire kit or the entire kit and the admin's Add-On. Check out this photo...

The kit is available at ScrapDish, but ScrapDish doesn't make any money from the kit. All of the proceeds go to RAKScraps and keeping the community free to everyone!

I am attempting to tackle cleaning out my craft closet. It was literally stacked floor to ceiling with bins and boxes and I couldn't find ANYTHING. Half of what was in that closet needs to be thrown away, I just haven't ever gotten around to doing it. I figured if I am ever going to do it, I should do it now. I am really trying to streamline stuff around here. So, with my Christmas money from my parents, I bought some plastic shelves at Wal-Mart and some Cropper Hopper paper organizers (on sale at Michaels & AC Moore this week & online at JoAnn's). I got the paper holders for $3.49 each. 50% off at AC Moore. Okay, I am so fed up with JoAnn's. They do not price match their own website at the stores. Isn't that crazy? Every other store in the entire world does! And they never have anything that their circular says they will have. I am sticking to Michaels from now on. They always have sales, coupons and enough stock.

I have been craving Mexican food lately. But I can't eat any out at restaurants because it always has cheese in it. So, I stopped by Moe's on the way home from doing errands and grabbed a cup of Pinto beans, chips & salsa and a small drink for $2.60. I LOVE their pinto beans. I mix in a little salsa and eat it with their fresh chips. YUM! Okay, enough about that. I have blabbed long enough... I am off to make a bunch of Christmas ornaments for Thomas to give out at work. The fun never ends! He told me on Tuesday morning that he needs 10-12 hand-painted ornaments by Thursday... shouldn't have been a problem but I can't find the shells I need and no one had any sand. I finally found some at Lowe's in the decorative potting soil aisle. Who would have thought it would be there? At least they sell it in small bags (2lbs). I have no idea what I would have done with 20 lbs of sand. I could go dump it at the beach! :) With my luck, they would arrest me thinking I was stealing sand from the beach! ;) Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Our Broken Tree

Since we put our Christmas tree up, I have been telling Hannah that she can't touch it or else it will fall over and break. Well, she has been pulling on the garland and playing with the ornaments anyway. Tonight, my sister-in-law, Amber, was over here and we were talking. Hannah started pulling an ornament off the tree. I told her to "stop touching the tree right now!" I heard a little creaking sound and jumped out of my chair just as the Christmas tree toppled over and came within inches of landing on Hannah. The plastic tree stand broke from her constant pulling! I made sure that she was okay and grabbed my camera. My poor sister-in-law was scared to death! She laughed at me for grabbing my camera, but we scrapbookers just can't help it! Here are the photos...

And, no , this photo was NOT posed! She was so embarassed!

So, I had to turn off the lights and prop the tree in the corner! A fully decorated tree is pretty heavy! You can picture 2 pregnant women trying to wrestle a Christmas tree into a corner! Not pretty! Hannah finally said, "I'm sorry your tree broke." She didn't admit to breaking it, though! Little stinker! So, I don't know what we are going to do for a tree this year. I have a couple of other trees in the garage. One is HUGE and there is no way it will even fit in our living room. The other one is a small craft-style twiggy tree. It won't even hold half of our ornaments. Maybe then Hannah won't try to grab it! The tree was only $20 at Wal-Mart 7 years ago, so it isn't a huge loss. We were planning to buy a new tree next year anyway. But I refuse to do it this year, when we are in an apartment that doesn't have enough space for a big tree. So, we may just have to make do with the twiggy tree. I'll post more photos as things happen!

so sleepy

and I have no idea why! I went to bed at 10:15 last night and didn't get back out until 7:30!!! Now, I didn't say that I was sleeping the entire time! Hannah was really fussy so I kept waking up when I heard her over the baby monitor. I woke up at about 3am and had to pee, but it was cold and I refused to get out of bed. Needless to say, by the time I got up at 7:30, I was nauseous. And REALLY had to PEE! I know, too much information! I am so far behind on my to-do list, it isn't even funny! I tried really hard to get my Christmas card photos printed yesterday, but Super Wal-Mart screwed them up and then the other Wal-Mart lost my online order. So I sent them to Costco and they were ready at 10am this morning. But I had a presidency meeting this morning and haven't had a chance to pick them up. Hannah threw up last night but has been perfectly fine since. But she is starting to feel warm as she is sitting on my lap right now. I hope she doesn't puke in the car. Because I would seriously gag. I don't do well with puke. Thankfully Thomas was home last night and could give her a bath while I cleaned up the puke. Gross. No more fast food for our family, thank you very much! Well, I am going to go to Costco before Hannah gets sick or cranky. Later...

Men!

They are such babies when they are sick! Thomas is supposed to be starting at a new dealership today, but he is home sick. He has the flu. Lucky me! I really hope I don't get it. And I REALLY hope that Hannah doesn't get it.

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. Things have been really crazy around here. With Christmas coming and Thomas's dad coming to visit this weekend, I have been running non-stop. I'll be exhausted by the time he gets here! Hopefully Thomas will be able to get off work. Since he is starting at this new dealership, there are no guarantees! And now that Thomas is sick today... Jim might have to hang out with Hannah and I this weekend. :) Hannah needs to get to know her Grandpa better anyway. She'll warm up to him right in time for him to leave. That is usually how it works!

I am already behind on my Christmas To-Do List! Yikes! That's not good! I need to make recipe books. Typing the recipes is what takes forever! I only have enough pages for 19 recipes, so it shouldn't be too bad. I think I am going to do just desserts. That would be the most fun! And I am going to do them in 6x6. I was going to take Hannah to the beach today to take her Christmas picture, but it is COLD... only 60 for the high today. And it is so windy. We may have to just use a photo by the Christmas tree if I can get her to sit still long enough.

Anyway... that's all folks! Later...