scrapbooker for hire

this one's worth reading. =)

After being super busy, stessed out and totally NOT inspired by anything for way too long, I finally sat down and created something. Well, two things actually. That album I talked about earlier (that I haven't photographed yet) and a layout. This layout: 

Products: Rusty Pickle patterned paper, chipboard shapes, tag, and lace.

On the 4th of July Joe was watering our lawn and as he walked around with the hose T thought it was hilarious to follow him around pulling on it while saying (in her super sweet little voice), "it'sa myyy hose, joe. it'sa myy house. *giggling the entire time*

So, these pictures are of that. =)

P.S. I still can't believe that she's two. Might I also add that she's a sassy two year old who has learned to tune me out and ignore me completely, which is a whole other post in itself. *NOTE TO SELF: Post about T's sassiness.*

And, on Sunday our family expanded. We adopted a dog from Hope's Haven. More specifically an American Bulldog that was totally used and abused. He's three and his name is Boscoe. He has no confidence and the saddest eyes I've ever seen. But, he's the SWEETEST boy and LOVES to love. =)

The day we brought him home we stopped and got him a bed which we won't sleep on, treats that he won't eat and toys that he doesn't even know what to do with. It makes my heart hurt. So, we're going to be his forever home and love him for the rest of his life. =) Which also makes my heart hurt but, in a good way.

Alright, it's bed time.

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.

Bad blogger.

Uhm....so, did you know that it's the first of July today? I just realized it and wow, where did the first half of the year go? 

Last Tuesday was T's birthday--she's two. We got her this sweet little Radio Flyer bike that she absolutely LOVES. The girl has been asking for a bike for months now. And every time she would see a bike on the street, at the store or on TV or anywhere, she'd turn to either me or Joe and say, "I wanna bike." So, the girl got a bike. She also got an art easle, building blocks, a pool, a new baby doll and a new summer wardrobe, among other things.

And this is hilarious, she's become accustomed to calling people whatever I call people so,  she calls her dad Joe. And, when he comes home after work she says (in a high pitched excited squeal), "Mom, is Joe! Hi, Joe!" And when I'm asking him (more like yelling across the house) to come here, Terrance follows suit calling him, "Honey" and it cracks me up.

And, I'm finally getting my new studio (or scrapbooking room) put together. I decided that I wasn't going to paint because that would delay my unpacking and being to scrapbook even more and to be quite honest, I'm dying to play. So, I left it the horrible minty green color that it is and moved in.

So, check in often for new projects to be posted.

Also, the Amazing Race is in full swing and the finalists are finishing up the 4th of a 7 leg race. Check out the Rusty Pickle blog to follow along with each leg of the race and also for a chance to win some great prizes! 

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!

The moral of the story is to always put the lid back onto the can of paint.

A few days ago I decided that I was going to paint our dinea area blue. I say "area" because it's the other half of the kitchen that's seperated by the truly retro L shaped counter tops. So, T and I got up this morning and got the paint. A gallon of something or other blue, I'll just call it "shop towel" blue because really, it's nearly he exact same shade. So, we come home, eat lunch, we play for a bit and then T goes down for a nap which is when I went into action.

At some point since we've moved in my husband bought a giant roll of plastic for me to use when I paint. I rummaged around in the garage for a bit and couldn't find it so I quickly decided that the ginormous box that the lawnmower came it would suffice. I drug it in and flung it on the floor matter-of-factly and was quite pleased with it's size and that it covered a lot of floor. Now, time to paint. I decided to start with the trim that meets the ceiling so, I poured some paint into my little paint holder thingy and began to work. All the while leaving the gallon of paint on the floor (well, actually on the box) with the lid off! After completing about half of the room I decided to step off of my ladder to admire my work. I took a few steps back and walked right into the can of paint, knocking it over and dumping more than half of it out. This was my reaction -----> Oh f***, oh f***, oh f***!! I quickly picked up the can of paint and set it up right and then I just panicked. Most of the paint had spilled out onto the box but, there was some that spilled out onto the floor. Okay, when I say it like that it doesn't sound as bad as it really was. Picture this, a circle of gorgeous shop towel blue paint 4 feet in diameter, now 1/3 of that is on my floor. That's a lot of freaking paint. And as I was watching it spread further out I was running in circles around it going, "what do I do?! What do I do?! -- I have NO idea what to do!" And as I ran those circle I managed to step in it and only realized it after I made tracks all over my kitchen. So, socks came off (yes, I was painting with just my socks on, no shoes) and threw them in sink. Please, note that only one sock had paint on it, the other one was surprisingly clean. Once the socks were off I resumed my panicked dance around the enourmous pool of paint and....stepped in it again. "Oh, mother f*$%&@!!" I wiped as much paint off of my one foot as I could and then put that one clean sock back on. So, there I was, one sock on, one sock off. Ten minutes had passed and all I had was a bigger mess than what I had started with and I was still at a loss for how I should go about cleaning this up off of my floor.

At this point I took several deep breathes and decided that I needed to get it off of my floor first, that the stuff on the box was fine for now. So, that's what I did. I scooped it up with spatulas and got it off my floor. I then got on my hands and knees and scrubbed it with hot soapy water and made sure there was no trace of it at all. The fact that the rest of it was on the box made it easy to get out. I just picked up it up and took it outside.

It's funny now but, yesterday as it was happening it was sooo not funny. But, I learned an important lesson--to always keep the paint covered!

I'm done.

I'm done, done, DONE with mathematical proofs, sequences and series, Java programming,  Spring term finals and the 2009 school year! HOLY CRAP, this term sucked. Really, I can't even begin to tell you how stressed out I've been for the last ten weeks and how much weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. So yeah, it's done and over with and, I really don't even want to talk about it.

I got my hair cut a week ago or so and I love it.

Oooh and it feels awesome to be living in our house. Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure that I've mentioned on my blog that we did infact buy that house that I posted pictures of previously. We signed the papers on the 3rd and we moved that Saturday. =) So, we've officially lived here for six days and it's been amazing. Because we visited the place so often while we were in escrow T's gotten used to telling the house goodbye when we leave and well, it just stuck.  Everytime we leave or arrive she says hello or goodbye and it's quite hilarious.

What else?....what else?....still no scrapbooking. I have a room with slanty ceilings for my studio here and I'm dying to get my things unpacked but, I have to paint it first. I'm thinking that it will get done next week during T's naps.

And....did you know that I have corn and chives growing in my backyard? Well, I do and it's very exciting. =)

Alright, that's it...

love this girl.

 

honoring you, my loving husband.

On this day I remember the 18 month separation that we endured while my husband was overseas. These are just a few layouts that are included in his album.

Here's to you, the love of my love, for putting your life on the line. I love you and I thank you for your sacrifice.    

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!