Tuesday, January 29, 2008

My bedroom looks like a picture from a magazine (almost)

David finished the floor in our bedroom today (not counting the edging and the closet, long story). It looks so good. With our Ikea dresser we bought last spring and the frames, mirrors, curtians and comforter cover from Ikea - the room almost looks like a picture from their cataloge. We have to buy rugs (when the tax refund cometh) and I want to do a bit more in the wall hanging/artwork area. We also want to rip out our closet doors and do a closet makeover (where are Oprah's people when I need them) The de-70'sification process of our house is in full swing. By the time we go to sell it the only evididence of the 1970s will be the date on the title.
Here is a layout I did today. I used so many items from so many people, I have to refer everyone to my digishoptalk gallery for credits and links.

Narnia or Mt. Tabor?

We had a bit of a snow day yesturday. We had a dusting at our house, but when we drove down to Christian's preschool (lower elevation) there was almost no snow. Mt. Tabor (the only volcano located inside a U.S. city) is right above Christian's preschool, so after we dropped Christian off, Liam and I drove up there. The City of Portland closed the roads so the only way to get in was to walk. I parked the car and Liam and I walked up the hill to the playground. When we got up there it was beautiful. We found nice powdery snow. Liam does not really like to touch the snow, so he wanted me to make snowballs. Naturally, I brought my camera and took some pictures of the scenery and of Liam in the snow. I love this photo. We need some artwork for our house and to save money, I am using my own creations. When I saw this it knew was frame worthy. I posted this layout to the galleries and had a couple of comments that the scene looks like Narnia. Portland does not see much snow. If C.S. was to write the story for Portland, he would have to talk about a land of never-ending rain. C.S. Lewis was from England, so he was probably all to familiar with that world.
used: Grungilicious & Snow Biz by Linsay Jane

We are also re-flooring our house. We have the spare room and the boys room finished and the carpet is ripped up in our room. David will lay the floor while I take the boys to church. Now that the floor will be a neutral color, I can paint with what ever colors I want. I am going to re-paint the hallway, living room and kitchen. We also have an electrician coming over in two weeks to replace our broken baseboard heater and to install a light in the ceiling. We don't want to re-floor the living room until the paint and electrician work is done, so after the bedroom is finished, David gets a break.
Used True Colors by Pyralis Designs

used Boy Zone by Lindsay Jane

Saturday, January 26, 2008

whatever the weather

David is working on installing our new floor in the spare room today and I was planning to take the boys out to make it easier for him. Our first choice was to go to the Children's Museum, but that is located at a high elevation and we are coming out of a cold front, so I called them up to see what the weather was like and they said it was icy. I was willing to consider going up there for if there was snow and even dressing the boys up in their winter clothes and letting them play outside, but am not a big fan of driving in the ice. We could even take the train up there and they boys love the train, but we still have to walk in the ice. The boys would probably be okay, since they are so close to the ground anyhow, but I fear the injuries I would get and I don't have winter shoes. (a problem in snow too)
So I gave the boys a choice between swimming or going to a fast food establishment playland. Since we have two kids they each made a different choice, so I let David be the tie-breaker and he decided to flip a coin so the he would not get the blame. He flipped the coin and Liam's choice won, but Christian still was not happy, I guess five year olds are not ready for such sceintific decision making methods.
I used Cars Go Beep Beep by Becky Kress for this layout

I used Memories, Snow Biz, Boy Zone & Cottage Retreat by Linday Jane, Frame set vol. 3 by Janosch & Funky Love Hearts by Natalie Bird

Liam just changed his mind and decided he wanted to go swimming after-all. The good news is that the pool is very warm and they boys will get very tired, the bad news is, I have to get wet and smell like chlorine. I hope it's not too crowded.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

We had another cold day today. Thursday is swimming day and I was not too excited about going to the pool. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to find that the pool is about 20 degrees warmer then our house. The boys always have fun at the pool. Liam was trying to gather all the foam floating ducks, fish, ect and the noodles. He had a couple of run-ins with other kids that we had to break up.
He is going through a very possesive phase right now. Everything including our bed is "mine" according to Liam. Christian was always such a happy, easy-going child, I don't remember his having a phase like this at age three.
Christian has been making masks. He makes them at school and then brings them home, gets out the scissors and makes frequent modifications to the masks until they are quite small.
I was invited to be a February guest to Lindsay Jane's creative team for February, but I get to start early. I did my first layout today using Boy Zone

I used True Colors by Pyralis Designs and Cars Go Beep Beep by Becky Kress for this layout.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Blanket update and biscotti

Liam and I went to the yarn store by our church tonight while Christian was at Awana and picked out yard for his new blanket. I also found someone who will knit the blanket for us. I bought the yarn and gave it to her, so we should have a new blanket by next week. I will try to get some pictures of the old and new blankets. Now we just have to hope that Liam can transfer his love from his old blanket to the new one. I have been advised to let him have both for while, that way he can get his smell on the new one. I bought his blanket at a garage sale for 10 cents, if I remember correctly. The yarn cost a lot more then that. I sure hope he loves it. At least I can feel safe that it will not get recalled, since I bought good yarn and I know the knitter.
Yesturday I took the boys to Starbucks with me so I could pick up my tips. Liam loves biscotti and always wants some when we go there. We have a large stash at home right now, so I am not buying it. He walked up to the counter and starting saying something to my co-worker Tess. She could not understand him, but Christian peaked his head around the corner and translated that Liam wants some biscotti. Liam starting saying something else that Tess could not understand and Christian translated that Liam was saying "I don't have any money". Tess told Liam that he needed to talk to me and he got more upset, because he knew what my answer would be.
I don't know where he got the phrase about not having money. It is comforting that my three year old is already begging for food.
On the cat front, the PGE (our electric company) meter reader came by yesturday and I walked out to the living room to find our cat Luna in the window growling at him. I know that I often feel that way about the meter reader this time of year. She gets very upset if other cats come into our yard, but this is the first time I have seen her growl at a human. I think she is very protective of the boys. She always wants to stay close to them and if they are crying she comes quickly to see what is wrong. She is a big girl with a temper. In the words of Mr. T. "I pitty the fool who messes with her".

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Liam's Blanket

Both of my boys have their favorite blanket (didi) that they sleep with and drag around the house. Christian's is a flannel bear print blanket and I think he will have it for the rest of his life if he wants. Liam's blanket is a purple knit blanket that he has been sucking on and unraveling. The days are numbered on this blanket and the thought of of disintergrating sends me into an anxiety attack.
Today I was at Bible Study at church and in our small group they asked for prayer requests. I felt stupid sharing something so small, but it is giving me so much anxiety that I need prayer for perspective if not for a blanket resurection (maybe I can take it to a healing crusade and have someone breath on it). Well I go to a Baptist church and they are more pragmatic, so after talking about the blanket crisis with the ladies, we came up with idea to take the blanket to a yarn shop and try to match the yarn up as best as possible and find a lady in the church who knits and commision her to knit him a new blanket. I hope the scheme works. It was also suggested that after we have a replacement, put the original in a mesh zip-up bags and save it for emergencies.
In the book of Titus it exhorts older woman to teach younger woman, when I have read it, I never thought this verse would apply to such urbane areas like special blankets. I also never could not have understood how much the peace of our family would revolve around a blanket.
Here is Liam with our new Ikea magnetic black board. The chalk has been in the garage for a couple of weeks since I found Liam drawing designs on our carpet it. I used Zen Spin by Cori Gammon and Cozy Nights by Jannylyn for this.

Monday, January 21, 2008

perfect photo op

Last night Liam was asleep on my bed and he looked so cute, that I grabbed my camera and took some pictures. Christian came in and wanted a piece of the action, so he posed for some pictures too. I have the hardest time getting them to pose for pictures together, now I know what to do, make sure one of them is asleep.


credits: cozy nights Digital Designs by Jannylyn at Elemental Scraps

Credits: Love Letters by Amanda Geils, Glitter Sprays by Grace Bennetn & Be Mine by Cori Gammon

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

I have been checking out DVD's of TV shows from the library to make up for the void formed in my life by the writer's strike. I am currently on a Medical kick. I have ER, House and the first Season of Doogie Howser M.D. I started watching Doogie Howser for the first time this century last night and it was very interesting. First of all...you have the whole "80's" thing, the hair (mullets), clothers, cars and even the cinamatic techniques. I love the whole showing a short scene using the actor then freezing it and scrolling the actor's name in the intro with that really bad sitcom music.
The thing that shocked me the most was the second episode (this is how far I got) in this episode, there is a new female radiologist who is in her late 30's. (my age). She goes out to a nice dinner with Doogie (16 years old) and tells him that she wants to have a baby and she wants him to be the father. Doogie being sixteen and more naive then a doctor should be thinks she wants to sleep with him. (very illegal), she really just wants his sperm. I discussed this with a co-worker who has a daugher who is almost 16 and asked how she would react if someone asked her daughter to be an egg donor at age 16. My friend said she would freak out, as I think Mrs. Howser would if she knew a woman who is my age was asking her sixteen year old son for his genetic matter. The other thing in the world of reality is that I think a parental consent would be needed for such a procedure.
In the last 20 years a lot of research has been done about the reasoning and decision making capabilities of teenagers and young adults and science has concluded that this age group lacks many of these skills (most of us can use personal stories to back of the science) I think it is reasonable to say that I would not want a 16 year old as my doctor. It freaks me out enough just to see a doctor who is younger then me, I don't think I would enjoy being seen by someone who is not old enough to vote.
Here are a couple of layouts I did this week. You can see the credits if you click on my gallery link to the right.


Friday, January 11, 2008

Swimming Rocks

I decided to make sure to boys get out of the house for hearty excersise. This is hard during January in a la Nina year in Western Oregon. We have a great swimming pool about 20 blocks from here. I have them on the waiting list to do swimming lessons in February, but until then, we decided to take them to open swim. We went yesturday afternoon. The session is great, it is not very crowded since schools are still in session during them time. Liam had a melt down and kept saying he wanted to get out, but I just kept him on my lap crying for a while. I got out to go to the bathroom and when we went back into the pool, he found his second wind and played hard.
When we got home, they ate lunch and then we were resting on the couch watching the Flintstones. Liam started falling asleep. (it was 3:45) at first I tried to wake him up, but then I realized that I was also very tired, so I took him to our room and layed down with him. Christian was happy watching the Flintstones. Liam fell asleep and I was able to rest for a while. I got up at about 4:45 to make dinner and Liam was still asleep. After dinner, I moved him to his room, he woke up a little and I layed down with him for a few minutes there.
He did not wake up until 7:00 am today! He is still a little moody this morning and did not want to get dressed, but it was nice to have the break yesturday.
We have a birthday party at a Burger King with a huge play area tonight. I expect another great sleep after that.
Here are a couple of layouts I did. I used One Bright Day by Cori Gammon for this layout

I used A Time to Dance by Sherri Tierney & One Fine Day for this as well as some pieces of My Shabby Valentines, which is Elememental Scraps Febrary Team Kit

Monday, January 7, 2008

Ikea Time

I did some serious shopping this weekend. On Saturday, I went to Home Depot and bought the electrical supplies to install a ceiling light and a new baseboard heater for the living room. It was quite a sight of me pushing that heater around Home Depot in a basket. On Sunday, I went to Ikea. I bought some long overdue (seven years) decorations for our room. I took the old mirror down in our room when we painted in the fall, it was plain and boring. I bought a pretty new one yesturday. I bought a Large frame with matte that holds 12x12 photos and put one of my layouts of the boys in it and hung it above the bed. We have curtains in our room for the first time since we moved in and I bought this magnetic chalkboard that we hung up in the kitchen for the boys to play with. They love it, but I am still trying to teach Liam to keep the chalk in the kitchen, not to use it as cargo on his trains or make designs with it on the carpet.
Speaking of carpet....in the words of Stephen Colbert, it has been put on notice and will soon be dead to us! My BIG purchase yesturday (keep in mind I went to Ikea alone) was 33 boxes, 30 lbs each of flooring. Enough to cover every room in our house with the exception of our Kitchen & Bathroom. I (by myself) loaded every one of those 33 boxes on to a cart. An Ikea employee helped me push it to the register, but I pushed 1600 lbs of flooring across the check out area to holding while I got my car. The woman working in the holding area is a customer of mine as Starbucks, so she had one of the men working with her help me to the car and help with loading the boxes into the car. I still loaded half of them. When I pulled into the driveway, David was in shock at how low our car was riding. David was gracious enough to unload all the flooring into the house. We will probably start installation this weekend.
I have to say....They have the BEST customer service at Ikea. It was a very busy day for them, but they were so helpful and pleasant.
Amazingly enough, I was able to move today. I am starting to ache now, so I think it is the whole 48 hours after work pain. I have MOPS tommorow, it will be very interesting if I cannot move.
One more purchase...I bought a ceiling light for our living room. We do not have any installed lighting in there. It is like an apartment. Paired with the turquoise carpet, it makes for a dark room. I cannot wait to enjoy a brighter carpet free living room, I even have the area rug picked out at Ikea.
Here are some layouts I did. As usual, click on my gallery link for credits and links to stores.



Thursday, January 3, 2008

Sushi Dilema

We have been trapped in the house this week due to illness. Liam and I were feeling better today so I decided it was time for a little outing. Clackamas Town Center (a local mall, the one Tonya Harding used to skate) was just remodeled and since all the Christmas excitement is over, I wanted to check it out. We went to the mall and to the new Starbucks, since one of the partners trained at my store. I let the boys get drinks and decided to get my weekly mark-out of coffee while I was there. I always have Christian help me pick out the coffee. I give him the first letter of the name of the blend and then maybe a package color. He chose the Casi Ciello and put it on the coutner for me and I asked them to mark it out. I took the coffee and started going back to the table when the partner asked for my employee number again. As I was giving it to her, I could hear Christian yelling it out across the store. He seems to have it memorized.
We went to buy some butcher paper so the boys can have a big art canvas, then I took them to Sushi Land which is across the street. In theory, this is a good place to take kids. You just sit down and start grabbing sushi, so there is not a wait, its cheap, healthy and there is something to please everyone. We were eating when it was obvious that Liam was about to have a bowel movement. He is not potty trained or anywhere close, but if I can get him to a toilet on time, he will do his project there instead of his daiper, which makes less work for me. I grabbed him and headed to the bathroom. I had to take Christian and all our stuff with us. The bathroom is in the back of the restuarant. We made it on time and Liam pooped in the toilet (yeah!), but when we got back out our place had been cleared!
I asked them what happened and they said that they assumed that we left without paying!!! The bathroom is in the opposite direction of the front door, I do not know how they would mix it up. They suggested next time I tell them when we are going to the bathroom. I guess I am supposed to yell out "my son has to poop, we will be right back, please don't take our food away"
It is hard to go out to restuarants with kids, but tonight, my kids were fairly well behaved, the restaurant was lacking though.
Here is a layout I did today using Winter Whimsy by Pyralis Designs at 3Scrapateers, the alpha & glitter snowflakes are from Snow Biz by Linsey Jane Designs

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

I am getting tired of of the cold and the snow, so I thought I would get out some pictures from a hotter, more humid time in my life. This picture is from Kyoto, Japan in 1994. It was 100 degrees with 100% humidity during the trip.



Liam gets very creative when he is playing. Here are some pictures of him putting the toy space shuttle in his Play Doh.

You can find credits in my gallery link to the right

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Year's Day

Happy New Years. I am still feeling pretty nasty today. I kept losing my voice and choking at work today...Good times. I was able to switch shifts with someone so I get tommorow off and can get some rest. It is very cold and windy today. I bet it will stay this way through the weekend and then on Monday when school starts again and life is supposed to return to normal we will get either snow or freezing rain or a combo of both and the city will shut down. I wish the snow would hold off to February, when we are ready for another break. It always seems to come right after Christmas vacation.
Here is Liam's 2007 in review and again you can click on my gallery link to the right to get credits.