Monthly Archive for April, 2006

6×6 Baby Book

Published
by
Courtney
on April 29, 2006
in Scrapping and Stamping
. 7 Comments

I went to a baby shower today for Larry’s sister-in-law. She’s having a girl…hopefully, because she got TONS of pink outfits! I made her a baby 6×6 scrapbook with one of the Stampin’ Up! Simply Scrappin’ Kits. It was the talk of the shower! Everyone wanted to see it. Now all she’ll have to do is put in the pictures and she’ll be all set. Following are a few of the pages…a brief description follows each:

Mini Baby Card

This is the Mini Card I made for her. It’s 2.75″ square. All I did was use one of the left over hand stickers, stamp in the middle with a phrase from Tiny Talk, and add some pink gingham ribbon. It’s tiny and cute!

Baby 6x6 Cover

I stamped on the cover of the book. It’s a linen album…the stamps I used are the Giant ‘B’ Monogram and the Whimsical Alphabet. I stamped using Rose Red and Certainly Celery Craft Pads. When stamping on an album cover you need to use the Craft Ink…Classic Ink won’t show up on the linen albums. It takes a few minutes to dry (I actually just left it over night). Then I added some celery grosgrain that is secured with Sticky Strip.

Inside Cover of Baby Book

This is the inside front cover. I figured the best use of this space was to attach a clear envelope that she can use to put the hospital band and newspaper announcement…that kind of stuff. I just chopped off the top of the envie so it would fit, and added a ‘Memories’ tag with a sticker from the Scrappin’ Kit.

Baby Page

I wanted to post this page because I really like how the Hodgepodge Hardware turned out. It took four hands (I had to enlist Larry’s help to hold the ribbon ends), and a few pieces of Sticky Strip, but the results were too cool! I wish I could just buy a ton of these little ‘S’ clips…they’re my favorite piece of Hodgepodge!

Baby 6x6

This is the left side of a 2-page layout…I used Whimsical Alphabet…I just love the title strips that come in the Scrappin’ Kits! If you do a 6×6 book you actually get twice as many title strips!

Baby 6x6

This would be the right side of the layout. I had to use the Classical Alphabet for the ‘and’ symbol because I don’t have that symbol in the Whimsical Alphabet…it comes with the Lower Case, and that’s still on my wish list!

So there you have a few ideas for 6×6 layouts…and a simple, but cute, stamped cover! Now that I’ve gotten up the nerve to actually stamp on the album cover, I am totally lovin’ it! I’ve done a few now, and I just think that stamping on the cover really makes each one look special. I urge you to try it…just be sure you use Craft Ink…and I’d recommend using a piece of scrap paper to practice your layout. After that, it’s just stamp and go…of course it’s one time placement, so I usually go with a ‘non-perfect’ type-of-thing…you know, I don’t try stamping letters in a perfectly straight line or anything…do it messy on purpose and you’ll be fine!

Baby Names

Published
by
Courtney
on April 26, 2006
in Baby Nora
. 3 Comments

The number one question I am asked, once people find out we’re expecting, is, “When are you due?” The answer to this, as I’ve said previously, is, sometime around Christmas. The second most popular question is, “Do you have names picked out?” The answer to this is, yes, but we’re not really telling people what they are yet. The reason for that? Larry’s two sisters-in-law are pregnant. One is due in June, and one in July. I’m telling you, I’ll be damned if they’re going to take our names. I know it sounds silly, but you have to understand, Larry and I don’t like hardly any of the same names. Now that we’ve found a few that we like, we don’t want to ruin it by having either of the sisters-in-law steal the ones we like. So, we’ve come up with an answer when people ask…we’ve done this mostly because it’s fun…we’ve been telling them that we like the name Gargamel or Gargamella if it’s a girl. You ought to see the looks! Let me tell you, there’s no, “oh…I like that…it’s cute…” with Gargamel! I’ll share the names we actually like…after those other two have their babies…can’t take any chances…although if one of them picks Gargamel, I might feel bad…

Sounds Gross To Me

Published
by
Courtney
on April 26, 2006
in Baby Nora
. 0 Comments

I have yet to have any cravings…although I have noticed lately that I can usually go for a small McDonald’s cheeseburger at any time of day. What often happens is that one minute something sounds unbelievably deliciously wonderful (like a hot dog from the Dairy Queen), and an hour later the mere thought of said hot dog makes me want to throw up. It’s very strange to have it go from one end of the spectrum to the other. While we’re talking about throwing up…I haven’t been sick at all! Note to the morning sickness Gods: I’m not bragging here, please don’t feel the need to punish me. So far so good! This brings me to the point of this post…

I went to the sprint car races with my parents and brother this weekend (racing is totally not what Larry likes to go see). We went to Subway for dinner beforehand. Allow me to print the transcript of the order of the person behind us in line…I’ll call him Oscar:

Oscar: I’d like a 6″ Meatball Sub on Wheat.

Subway Girl: What kind of cheese would you like?

O: Shredded Cheddar.

SG: Would you like any vegetables on your sub?

O: Lettuce, tomato, and onion…oh and give me some pickles.

Screech. Pickles? On a Meatball Sub? Pickles? I had to look to be sure that he had indeed ordered pickles on a meatball sub. Pickles and spaghetti sauce? I thought the lettuce sounded gross, but the pickles did me in. All I could think was, “I’m pregnant and that doesn’t even sound good…in fact, it sounds flippin’ disgusting.”

Surprise!

Published
by
Courtney
on April 21, 2006
in Baby Nora
. 7 Comments

Due to a recent turn of events, some things on this site are changing. If you haven’t noticed, allow me to point out…I’m no longer a Weight Watcher Member (for the time being). I will leave the calculator up, in hopes that it is helpful to some of you…although it may be moved. I have also added a category on the left, and will be posting to it as appropriate. Okay, so do you know yet what the turn of events is? We’ve been super excited about something, and we’ve been taking time to share our exciting news with our family…thus the lack of posts the last few days. And, now, I share the news with you, my friends and readers:

positive.jpg

This will be our first baby, and he or she was planned…the surprise part was for you guys…not for us! I’m not that far along (only about 4-5 weeks), and I imagine I’ll know more once we have our doctor’s appointment on the 2nd of May. As best I can tell we can expect the arrival of our little one sometime around Christmas!

I think that the real part of this adventure will have to do with Larry. He’s had quite a few ‘moments’ since we found out. One of them was when he said, after we had only known for about two hours, “you don’t have to brush your hair anymore, you’re pregnant“. I think the funniest thing that he’s said was, “if I’d have known being pregnant was going to make you so bitchy…” Luckily for him that was said in complete jest…because something tells me he ain’t seen nothin’ yet!

Seriously though, he’s been great at making sure I’m taking care of myself. He brings my vitamin to me every morning, which is good because I’m extremely forgetful with vitamin taking. He also made sure I switched to a soda-free, organic meat, hormone-free milk, juice and water drinking diet. But the best part? He still lets me eat ice cream! Heaven help him if he tries taking that away!

Working On One

Published
by
Courtney
on April 21, 2006
in Musings
. 0 Comments

I wanted to say a few quick words since it’s been a few days since I posted last. Everything is going fine…the nice weather has had us outside playing several games of PIG with the basketball. I’m working on a post that will be uploaded later today…so I wanted to check in and say ‘Check Back Later’ because it’ll totally be worth it!

Catchin’ Some Rays

Published
by
Courtney
on April 18, 2006
in Musings
. 2 Comments

Pixel by the Porch.jpg

I finally snapped an updated picture of Pixel. Our digital camera goes through batteries like there’s no tomorrow. Anyhow, I took this one on Easter when we had her outside to enjoy the nice weather. Now that it’s nice outside, she’s content to lay in the grass for hours on end…we joke that the only thing she needs us for now is to hook her on her chain outside…otherwise she’s fine without us! She’s definitely grown into the daschund part…every time she gets bigger, it’s really that she’s getting longer! We have her house trained, aside from the occasional accident when we leave her too long during the day. I think she’s extremely happy to not have to go in her cage anymore…she’s the queen of the house, now!

One problem we have, now that she’s older, is that she can’t really go in the car. Okay, well she can, but she barfs every time. We’re talking two blocks in the car and she’s throwing up. I don’t quite know why because we never stopped taking her in the car…we kept doing it hoping that she’d stay accustomed to being in the car. I have to get her some doggie Dramamine (or something of the like). I know that she’d just love running around at the reservoir when we go to play on the toys, but it’s the dreaded car ride that makes us keep her at home.

Cali and Pixel are getting along much better these days, although there are still times that the cat will avoid the dog for a few hours at a time. Pixel just comes charging at her with her paws swingin around like a crazy dog…Cali doesn’t like that at all. The funniest thing we’ve noticed is that if Cali will let her get close enough, Pixel will lick that cat for as long as she’ll put up with it…she particularly likes to lick Cali’s ears. What a strange dog!

My last little story about Pixel is that she’s finally losing some of her puppy teeth! She was chewing on one of her toys last week (while she was lounging on the couch), and we heard something little hit the ground. I turned on the light, and sure enough, there was a little puppy tooth on the floor. Upon further inspection, I found another one on the floor next to the chair. I told Larry that she was starting to lose her teeth and that I had found two of them! Now mind you, I told him in an excited puppy parent type-of-way. I told him I was worried that maybe she had lost the one by the chair a few days ago or something…and that maybe she’d be disappointed that the Puppy Tooth Fairy hadn’t come to bring her any puppy treats in exchange for her tooth. He rolled his eyes and gave me a “you’re stupid” look. But the best part about the whole tooth losing thing? When I discovered the tooth, he immediately said, “Don’t think you’re putting that thing near a scrapbook.” To which I said, “Of course I’m not.” And I promptly stashed them in a baggie in my stamp room…for scrapping in the near future! I must say, it made me a little proud that he knew I’d want to scrap her first lost tooth…he must actually be paying attention when I ramble on about scrapping…

Bad Boy

Published
by
Courtney
on April 14, 2006
in Musings
. 0 Comments

What is with people these days? Unbelievable the stuff they say. Here’s an example…strike that…a few examples of what I’m talking about. Larry and I went to dinner last night at a little family run restaurant in a neighboring town. It’s usually a nice, peaceful restaurant…I think it’s because most of the patrons are…um…senior citizens…but anyway…we were seated in a booth. A family was seated in the booth behind Larry. This family was a mom, her couldn’t-be-more-than-two-years-old son, and the grandparents of the little boy…the mother’s parents, I’m assuming. This little boy, we’ll call him Jacob (to save you the horror of his actual name, and to protect his mother’s stupidity), was very cute…and very small…just barely old enough to sit in the booth instead of the highchair…but still needing a bib and a drink with a lid. Okay, now that you understand the level of cuteness, and youngness involved, here we go…

It all started when Jacob spilled a glass of water. It went all over the table, and a few drops got on grandma. Immediately his mom starts yelling at him (not quietly at all) for spilling this water on purpose. Now I didn’t see the incident, so I can’t say if it was on purpose or not. But all I could think is, “Why did you have a glass of water within Jacob’s reach?” So the waitress comes over and helps clean it up…she leaves to get the trashcan so they can just swoop the napkins right into the trash. While she’s gone, the mom and grandma continue to yell at Jacob and make a big stinking deal out of this small mess he’s made. Things were said that were terrible. Things like:

You’re a bad boy. (repeated 10-15 times in about five minutes)
That lady (the waitress) is mad at you…you’re in trouble.