Just Our Life

I've Moved!

2013-05-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

.......check out my new blog here!

M.I.A.

2013-05-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

It seems like it has been weeks since I have blogged. It probably has. So many things have happened. We made a road trip to Alabama this past week. We got back home Sunday afternoon and man, that was the LONGEST drive ever! My daughter had a good time visiting with her cousins and grandparents, so that definitely made a sad trip turn into a good one.

Lately, I started working on a new blog. I really miss my Wordpress blog. I love blogger, but I love the WP platform even more. I am customizing every code I can to get it just the way that I want. Hopefully, I will be able to share it soon along with some other new things that I plan on sharing. One thing I can say, the blogger spacing on posts is much easier to deal with. When I enter, it gives me a line break without question. Right now I am having to reformat all of my posts on Wordpress. I bought a new domain so I am trying to decide if I should even move all of my blogger posts. It is becoming more work than I thought it would be to reformat all of the posts. I am such a perfectionist and I really need the spacing to be the same for each of the posts.

I definitely have some scrap booking to catch up on. Working on my smash book has even been put on hold a bit and it makes me sad. Still trying to find things for Aida to do each day. Her birthday was about a week ago, so I officially have a 5 year old. I wake up before her every day, but on her birthday she woke up before both of us. Her dad said she was in face talking about her birthday before he even got up for work that morning. This was the first birthday that we did not go on a big, elaborate trip. I miss that but it was nice celebrating all day (and week) with my baby girl. I have so many photos to work on from her birthday. I need to make a huge task list of photos to edit, share and scrap. Let's hope I even remember to do that...lol!

Just wanted to share a photo of the little lady from April of this year. I was cutting out shapes for her to put together a flower. She enjoyed it and now I have an adorable flower in my kitchen.

I must get back to it now....thanks for visiting!

Almost Over

2013-05-06T13:43:00.003-07:00

NSD weekend is almost over....but not yet. I completely forgot to come back and post. Bad me! Lots of sales and challenges are still going on. Today is the last day for the storewide 30% off sale at Sweet Shoppe Designs and The Lilypad. If there is any digital scrapbook item (kit, element, paper pack...etc..) that you have been wanting, now is the time to get it. I love shopping on NSD weekend just because of the great deals you find at the forums and other social media (i.e. facebook, twitter). This year I am beyond grateful to be on the creative team of my favorite stores. So many new and wonderful products were released this week. I definitely did not have enough time to create. I have a few of my favorite pages to share.

This first page I made last night. I downloaded the kit yesterday and as soon as I unzipped the kit, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. It usually takes me a long time (more than an hour) to finish a page, but this really inspired me.

digital kit used:

Get Your Craft On by Lauren Grier, Micheline Martin & Valorie Wibbens

Then there these journal cards that I really needed to use and that inspired my very first project life page for 2013. I love my 2012 album colors but I need more color and I think I will definitely have that.

digital products used - all by Micheline Martin:

The next couple of pages include more photos from our day out to the Children's Museum. Surely, I could put these all on one page but some I really wanted to highlight before I do a spread of photos.

digital products used:

You Make Me Smile by Mari Koegelenberg and Sugarplum Paperie
Bohemian Beauty by Sweet Shoppe Designs
Jar of Hearts by Erica Zane and Studio Basic
Layered Cards: Everyday 5 by Cindy Schneider
Font: Bailey by Darcy Baldwin

digital products used:

Woodland Wonder: Papers and Elements by Jenn Barrette
Vintage Worn and Torn Papers by Sahlin Studio

Now... I am going to check on our dinner. Maybe I will be back with pretty photos...I am not sure....but I am trying this recipe tonight: Slow Cooker Lemon Pepper Chicken. Thanks for visiting!

My Scrap Journal

2013-05-04T09:55:00.001-07:00

Warmer days are here...finally!! I am so excited. This past weekend it was beautiful outside. Lots of sunshine and people were outside all over the place. It is the first day of May and the month is already starting off very well. I have been busy with creating pages for National Scrapbooking Day (NSD), which is this Saturday, May 4th. There are so many activities that will be going on all week long and some will not end until next week. I will come back later and do a post of links to some of the festivities.

Right now, I really wanted to share my latest project. Browsing through a certain favorite store of mine, I came across these notebooks called smash books. I remember when quite a few of the digital ladies on my FB feed were doing them and at the time, I did not have the time to even look at paper goods for scrapping. Fast forward to present day- and I have more time to do some things for myself. I have plenty of journals from when I was younger and have been anxious to start one as an adult. I figure this will be fun and will give me a chance to do a little scrapbooking of my own random thoughts.

Now- for the cover of my scrap journal, I chose the PrettyPink journal which has this beautifully embossed cover. I started looking through Pinterest and google to see how to pretty up the outside a little more and make it more me. I absolutely love color. I came across an idea on Pinterest to color in the embossing. I thought, "why not?" So I went to Amazon and got on the hunt for markers and found a nice variety pack. The colors are very nice in person and I think I am going to have to do some doodles on my own besides on the cover of the book. The colors came out darker when I was coloring in the design on the journal because of the material.

I cannot see very well at all, so to follow the embossing I had to stay under the light. The whole time I kept thinking "what if I mess up." Well, I had to stop worrying because it was slowing me down. Within 30 minutes or so, this is what I got done the first night while my overly active child was running around.

I finished up the coloring the cover the next night once everyone was in bed asleep. I love to add lace to digital scrapbook pages, so of course, I had gotten some of that. I like this pack because it has 4 different styles. Some scalloped and some not. It is nice and stretchy. I also got a small pack of ribbon and use a piece of the brown ribbon with the lace to line the edge of the journal.

I used a glue stick to hold these down, but I wish I had looked for reviews on a better type of adhesive for this. I ended up using my glue dot roller. The adhesive on it was much stronger than that of the glue stick. I will probably give the glue stick to my daughter for her crafts. The two flowers added onto the cover were definitely an impulsive buy at Target. They looked pretty, so I had to have them. I was pretty happy to see it all coming together. Scrapping with tangible items is much different than digital. It took more time as far as cutting and gluing pieces and I took even longer to decide what to use. It was relaxing though. My fiance says he did not know I would be up so late "cutting butterflies." So now, whenever I mention my scrap journal, he ask how many more butterflies will I be cutting. When you see my first page inside, you will know what he means, but it is not like I cut a bunch of them or something. Anyway, here is the finished cover:

I wanted the first page inside just to be a little intro. I already want to re-do it as I look at it. I like it but I wish I had taken more time with the writing part of it. There are many facets to my handwriting..lol! Seriously, I write at least 4 different ways and it really depends on the mood I am in. I have always LOVED to write. The inside page will be posted soon, I have a few things I want to share related to NSD later today. :)

Products used on this project:

Lately

2013-04-24T12:59:00.002-07:00

These past few days I have almost felt like I have been living in a bubble. Under a rock or something. If I find a new project I want to start, I get completely consumed with it. First, it was reading this HTML/CSS book. I could not focus on anything else and now, it is scrap booking but with paper materials instead of digital. By Friday, I will be ready to start my scrap journal. I am even contemplating a hybrid 2013 project life which I am still not sure that's a good choice (considering I am behind on 2012). I am pacing myself though - one step at a time.

I got a nice surprise as I clicked a link from my email today. One of my pages was included as inspiration on the Creating Keepsakes blog. I was shocked! I am over here ready to learn to scrap as well as those ladies with the paper goodies...I am really honored, smitten and all of that. You know, when I get comments on my pages, most times I do not know how to respond. It makes me feel good and I am excited to read each one... I smile.... I even get surprised when people I do not think would look at my page will stop to make a comment. It really and truly is a feeling I cannot describe and so, sometimes I may not respond just because I cannot find the words. I am not good at all at being social but I am trying my best to do better. My child is very social and loves interacting with others. I know that she has gotten this from her dad, and her grandparents, even. I mean - I am an extreme introvert about some things and it has always been easy to write it down (or type it out onto a blog). I have all of my old journals and diaries and I even kept up with some of my web URLs that I have had in the past. I have a lot of thoughts that go through my head and I wish I could express them as well as I think them. Now...surely...that is not why I started this post but it came out as I typed...lol!

I wanted to share a recent page of mine. I have thousands of photos that I need to scrap and although it looks like I only take photos of my daughter, I do not. I have photos of other things that I end up not sharing, but I do love sharing photos of the food I have cooked. I do not like washing dishes so I rarely cook all of this "pretty" food but sometimes it is fun to play around and I love getting photos.

digital products used:

by Sahlin Studio: Kitschy Kitchen Alphas,Kitschy Kitchen Mixed Media
by Sahlin Studio and Jennifer Barrette:Kitschy Kitchen (kit)
by One Little Bird: In the Loop no. 3

Now I am off to catch up on some things around here. :)

Scrapbooking: New Goodies and More

2013-04-20T00:32:00.000-07:00

So. It is Saturday and almost 2 am on my side of the world. It feels like it has been longer than a couple of days but Aida and I went out for breakfast Thursday morning. We went to IHOP. I decided to wait to go to the two local places I had scouted to try. We did go to a local cupcake & cafe afterwards just to try the cupcakes that got them named in the newspaper for three years. The cupcakes were delicious but the lady that actually helped my child and I was just not that friendly. I almost tired of hearing myself say that. And I do need to clarify.

I myself, when I am around people I do not know, I am quiet. I smile, greet them will respond in conversation if we happen to start talking. I do not have a problem with others that are just like me - kind of hesitant to speak to someone else, because I understand being that way...but a business owner being that way is kind of odd. You have a business, which means you would like customers and that should mean at least being cordial. You do not have to speak to me like I am your best friend but please do not look at my child and I like you wish we would run out the front door. Now I will say it was rather humid inside the place. They had fans on but it was still hot. No need for AC because it was barely 50 degrees, rainy and very windy. I thought that maybe the lady was flustered because it was hot and she was doing a lot of moving around. Either way, I will not be going back. Good cupcakes...perfect amount of sweetness...and not too much icing.Oh well! Not like I needed them. (lol!)

After that, Aida and I headed to Target to get her some art supplies. She keeps telling me she is bored and asking about school, so I figured we could do some crafts. She ended up getting play-doh and I bought a few other things for her. As I was looking through the aisles for stickers for her (she loves them), I saw a smash book and I started thinking how I would love to start a scrap journal just my personal thoughts. Such a bad idea! I got the book, a set of pens, glitter pens (sharing with Aida too...lol!), some flowers and stickers for myself and some other things. Then I started thinking...hmm...I would not mind mixing in traditional pages with my digital pages or at least make some inserts. What does my crazy self do next? Buy more stuff. I have been cutting journal cards the past couple of days and now I am waiting on two shipments (hope my fiance does not see this...lol!!). Yes, I am a crazy person.

I have this brand new Canon printer that actually prints pretty nice photos, so why not try it out. I am really excited about it. I have actually been stalking some scrap blogs lately. It will definitely be fun to try out some of their techniques.

No photos yet but definitely will be sharing once the rest of the stash arrives and I start to using it. Wish me luck! I am good with digital ....I think...we will see about the "real" thing. I do have a few of digital pages to share (credits below each image).

digital products used:

A Thousand Words and All That Glitters Alpha [free w/kit until 4/26] by Zoe Pearn by Zoe Pearn

digital products used:

For the Record by Forever Joy

digital products used:

Then and Now by Studio Basic and Kaye Winiecki

digital products used:

My Belle Inspiregram Frames {element pack} by Laurie Ann
Because by Paislee Press
Collab: Spring Carnival by Amy Martin and Jimbo Jambo

Thanks for visiting! Have a great weekend!!

This girl!

2013-04-16T22:29:00.001-07:00

My daughter and I have been enjoying our time together these days. I am still trying to find my 'fit' as a stay-at-home-mom. Gosh! I am not really sure I am even worthy of that label. I hate labels but it is what it is. I am a mama and very grateful to have this man in my life that says "take care of the child and I will take care of you all." My little ladybug, on the other hand, is taking advantage of mama. At least I think so....lol! Every day starts with breakfast of her choosing. It is either cereal with fruit or waffles/pancakes with fruit. At some point during the day, she tells me "I am tired of this." I know that means she is bored, so I try to find us something to do.

This Monday I beat her to the punch and decided to wash her hair. At first, I was going to style her hair as normal with mini twists, but instead, I decided to straighten it (temporarily) with flat irons. We deep conditioned, conditioned again after washing and applied my favorite leave-in. Since my hair is natural and I use no heat, it was weird to smell that familiar scent of heat being applied to hair. It will be a long while (years...yearrrrss...) before we do this again, but I thought it would be fun. She loved her hair once it was done...and there is a lot of it. This is just one of the photos I got of her before she made outfit changes (photos to come later).

I used grapeseed oil, coconut oil and Camille Rose Naturals Moisture milk as I blew her hair dry. Then before flat-ironing each section, I used a dab of shea butter and Darcy's Botanicals Madagascar Vanilla styling creme. I love love Darcy's and Camille Rose's product lines for our hair, so I had to experiment with them when styling my daughter's hair this time around. Her hair was still big but it was also soft and bouncy. Detangling, as usual, was torture. I need to find an easier way for both of us. I can use my fingers to detangle when our hair is wet and it is super easy, but as soon as it dries, those little curls bunch back together. It really drives me crazy. Maybe one day I will solve that dilemma. :-)

Lots of Blue

2013-04-12T23:14:00.000-07:00

Not sure why I am so obsessed with blue lately. Funny thing. I was on Education.com with Aida the other day and they had these mask templates for the Chinese birth year animals. My daughter, fiance and I are all born in the year of the rat. One of our "colors" is blue. I was thinking maybe that is why I am so into blue. I mean, I love colors-most of them, but I was never fond of blue until I was trying to find blog colors and I realized I needed blue. Then, I got to thinking about my project life album and how it is mostly shades of blue and yellow. I thought that was kind of cool. Probably just my weirdness to connect all of that....lol!

I have been happily scrapping these past few days and have a few pages to share. This first page uses photos I recently converted. I have been converting my RAW files to DNG, and I was looking at a few and figured I really need to get to processing and using these photos. I tried to do a nice, clean edit on these which I posted on my photo blog.

digital products used:

Collection 112|Template by Janet Phillips
Wide Open Spaces by Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Messy Stitches by Katie Pertiet

I even completed another page for my project life 2012. I would love to get into 2013 during the year...lol! Working on that! Traci Reed had these cool new transparencies that I just had to use and I love them. I will definitely be using them on my next page.

digital products used:

365 Unscripted: Transparencies 1 and 2 by Traci Reed
New Beginnings by Heather, Julue, Melissa, Jenn, Nicole and Erica
Memories in the Making.Live Your Story and Smart Aleck by Sweet Shoppe Designs
Vitamin D by Kristin Cronin-Barrow
Clean Stitches by Katie Pertiet

I would say that "hey, no blue on this page" but there are hints of it..lol! Sahlin Studio and Brittish Designs have been releasing these Project Mouse kits and I absolutely LOVE the latest set. It focus on princesses and it is just an awesome addition to this collection. They are making me scrap my Disney photos from 2012. It has been just the push I need and every time I have to do 2 pages, whether Disney related or not. Love love this collection!

digital products used:

Project Mouse|Princess Edition: Alphas, Elements, Papers, Cards by Sahlin Studio and Brittish Designs

digital products used:

Project Mouse|Princess Edition: Alphas, Elements, Papers, Cards by Sahlin Studio and Brittish Designs

Hope your weekend is starting off well...thanks for visiting!!

Cold, maybe?

2013-04-11T01:06:00.003-07:00

Looking through photos and I realize why I do not post nearly as many as I have taken. I hate converting and editing! Lately, I have not done much editing to my photos but even the little touch ups on white balance or the brightness or adding a little matte finish or even converting to black and white, I just do not have the drive to do it. It has been a very rainy week and I was hoping that we would be able to get out and explore. It would be nice to take photos elsewhere and maybe of some things, so that my daughter is not bombarded and so that I can have some to look back on of where we lived for this time.

I do have one to share today of my daughter. This was taken at the end of March. She had gotten some new boots in a larger size for next winter, but she really wanted to try them on. I kept telling her it may be cold. Well, she ran outside so quickly and once she felt the wind, it was over. I told her we would make it quick and this is all she would do.

This whole time it has been much colder than 30 degrees and she kept saying how hot it was in the house. It warms up a tad and all of a sudden, she is cold (outside and inside). Maybe she will not keep laughing at Mommy's cold hands (lol!).

Then, as I am getting ready to send scrapbook pages to be printed, I am combing through my 2011 pages to see what has to be "re-done" before I am okay to print. Here is one of these refreshed pages with a kit I have been itching to use.

digital product used:

Forever Young by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Shawna Clingerman

I really loved how the page turned out. I try to experiment with my pages because after doing them for so long, they all start to feel like they look the same. As I made this page, I knew it had to be nice and simple. One thing I am trying to include more is a title. Most times it is not that I do not want a title. It is more of me forgetting to add it...lol! Literally, forgetting to put the alphas on the page or I will put them on the page and hide their layer until I am finished and forget to make the layer visible again. Terrible memory, I have...lol!

Decision Made...

2013-04-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

Since I have had more time to actually think through things, I have come to a decision. I have a Marketing degree. When I was about 14 or 15, I said I wanted to be in advertising. I grew up and learned that I am too much of an introvert for that. I could never be easily sociable and explain to others the ideas in my head. For a long time I had a cloud over my thoughts. Like I was afraid to process and sort through them..in my own mind, which is just crazy. I know why I chose Marketing. I get bored easily. I change my mind frequently. Marketing was the one area of study that could be used in any field I ever decided to learn more about. My first thought upon entering college in the Fall of 2002 was that I should do something computer related.

First two years of college are like a "buffer" zone, so I had that time to really decide what my major would be. I stuck with Marketing. Now...I wish I had done web design or something programming related. Those things speak to me. Computer geek stuff excites me. It is like breathing for me. So why did I not do that? It seemed like so many people were going to school for that. What would set me apart? Knowing how to market myself. My favorite professor at UAB taught my International Business course, Mr. Pang. He would always ask us: "What is Marketing?" I would never respond...quiet old me..and most everyone would look around in a daze or confused or just sleep...mostly because that's what we were there to find out...and he would laugh and tell us that it was easy, it was "market things." Really and truly...that is all it is. Market things...whatever your business is..market it...sell it...make someone else want it. I wish I had opened up more in class because now I get it...I get the point of it all, the big picture. So! Know how to market your skills and no matter if you are the best or moderately good, if you market yourself the right way....it will work.

All of that to say, I really want to do this web design thing. I want to focus on blogs first. I love to blog, although I may be boring to some...lol! My topics are scattered on this blog because it is my life in words and pictures. My brain is scattered daily and I have several thoughts just like this any given minute. So....don't let this blog be the judge is what I am saying...lol! I have things I would like to see. I want to focus on blogger first and Wordpress second. Wordpress was not hard for me but because I was working every day, I could not invest the time I wanted into it to get the results that I desired. This blog here is the product of a wonderful theme discovery made by a great designer. My project will be to make my own.

There are several places to make a blog and thousands upon thousands of themes available. Some are free and some cost more than I am willing to spend right now. If I were still working, I would buy and not think twice about it. Not all of us can pay large amounts of money for a blog, and there is nothing wrong with whether you can or cannot or want to or do not want to. It just depends on what you really want out of your blog. I love love love designing my blog and playing around with the code, but now I want to start from scratch. Hopefully, there will be even more to come soon...or at least by the year's end. I am anxious and ready to learn more about CSS and HTML.

Monday Blahs

2013-04-08T22:40:00.001-07:00

Monday still feels like Monday- whether I work in an office or home, it is still my least favorite day of the week. I have no idea why! It is like everything that annoyed me all during the week is compounded on Monday. No idea why...probably all in my mind. Anywhhooo... I have not been scrapping as much as I would like. I thought if I had more time at home, got in some family time and got away from the stress of my job that I would scrap so much and that has not been the case. I even think my child believes she has her own personal server (i.e. me!). Her dad says this my fault for always being right there when she needed something when she was a little younger, but what was I supposed to do? Lol!! I will admit I may have and still do go overboard, but I cannot help it. The before-a-child me was selfish and hated to share, but after meeting my fiance and having a child, I am mostly different...lol! Mostly because I still do not believe in helping others that are not helping their self first. As far as my child, I would do anything for her...as most parents would agree when it comes to their children.

I remember when I had to save as much money as possible to cover the bills for maternity leave. Or when we were eating sandwiches and spaghetti almost every other day to keep down the grocery bill. I even remember eating Cheerios on the way to work and taking sandwiches for lunch with peanuts, chips and water because I had no lunch money. BUT...it did not matter. My daughter was at a daycare with teachers/caregivers that loved her and took very good care of her; she had a closet full of clothes and plenty of diapers; and, we enjoyed weekends at home or visiting our families who always fed us and even were sweet enough to pay for the gas for our trip to their house and back. We were blessed in so many ways, so then and now I feel like I have to give her all of that and more.

Sorry about that entire thought ramble...it all just came out...surely my hands were possessed.. lol!

Now...I do have a few recent pages to share. I dug deep into my older photos to find some that really needed to be scrapped (or re-scrapped) and I loved going back and seeing how much has changed since those times and now.

My daughter was a month away from her 3rd birthday in these photos and it was Easter Sunday.

digital products used:

Life 101 - Laugh until you cry by Jady Day Studio and Meghan Mullens
Layered Cards: Everyday 4 by Cindy Schneider

This next page has photos from Easter of this year....indoors and playing yet another game.

digital product used:

Flowers After the Rain: Collection by Sugarplum Paperie and Wishing Well Creations

And a couple more...

digital products used:

This is What You Mean to Me by Lauren Grier

digital products used:

Suncatcher Papers and Elements by One Little Bird
Misty Alpha 01 by Lynne-Marie

Hopefully I can get a few more done tonight. I just finished up my last page for April 2012 for my project life album. I got some print credits sitting at Persnickety Prints and I want to try to get a good amount of pages ready to be printed. Thanks for visiting!!

Why I Made the Switch

2013-04-07T01:56:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post about this and now I am finally sitting down to do it.

A little before I relocated, my hosting with Ultra Web Hosting was going to expire. I loved them as a hosting company. I googled for weeks to find out who I would first try and they were who I decided on. I could not find one bad review and the ones I found were rare finds. Now, this would have scared me except all the big hosting companies that I knew of, I had heard about all types of issues. With Ultra Web, I paid roughly $80 a year for unlimited everything and they kept everything up to date. Whenever they were going to do an update, I received an email in advance. I got my domain name (which I still have) hosted through Namecheap with a coupon and shortly after, I started building my first WordPress blog. I had maybe ONE day of downtime with Ultra Web in the entire year and a half I was with them. It was easy to set up and their support team responded in a timely manner when I had no idea what I was doing trying to set up name servers (lol!).

The main two things I miss about a self-hosted Wordpress blog is the freedom I had. I could play and experiment with almost any code I desired. I do not know a lot about web design. Any thing I have learned is just from me messing around with my own blogs. Knowing that I was about to become a stay-at-home-mama, I knew that I refused to pay for hosting when I did not have a business or my own flow of cash. Home is taken care of but my blog is merely for my hobbies. If I got money to spend, I would rather it be on those things...lol! Anyway, I came back to blogger and began the hunt for nice, clean themes that I could install that would give it a professional feel. I experimented a little bit...with a lot of color...and although I love color, it was just not giving me what I needed on my blog.

I found a designer on Etsy that does pre-made themes for blogger: Nudge Media Design (Kathy R.). When I found her shop, I was in love with every theme that I saw. I knew that I could buy one theme to start. I did not want to get something with too many frills because of my habit to change things. I wanted a simple, minimalist design that I loved. I have played with the theme just a bit. I have added a header image and found out how to do borders and color strips at the top and bottom of the inside blog wrapper. I love that I was able to personalize it without taking away from the design (or at least I hope I did not). THEN, after I searched for other people that may have used her themes, I saw a giveaway for them. I entered the giveaway and bought a theme at the same time...I was too anxious to wait. THEN, I get the email from the sweet giveway host and the designer, that I won. I was ecstatic! Before I could send thank yous, I received a notification of my refund since I had won. I was already about to pick a second theme and let my first purchase remain as it was because I loved her designs. Out of the thousands of themes I found, there were not many that possessed everything that I desired in a theme. This blog and my photography blog (linked in sidebar) use this theme.

Here are a few of her other themes that I just love:

Her installation notes were clear and easy to follow. A first time blogger user should have no trouble following. I will definitely be keeping up with her and her upcoming designs. The clean, simple design of her work is what I would love to see more of for blogger. Sometimes I think blogger gets overlooked because of the less control. It has definitely been a wonderful thing for me - now and when I was first starting to blog.

I hope that this review has shed light on something new for someone. Just know, that I was not asked to do this, it was just something on my mind that I felt I needed to do. If I find something that works, I figure why not share it?!? :) Thanks for visiting!!

Our Day

2013-04-05T00:14:00.001-07:00

Today was pretty quiet. Normal stuff going on..nothing too fun. Ohh! The other day we went to get the enrollment information for my dd to start kindergarten in the Fall. She was very excited about that (as she is about most things)! Mommy is still nervous and will be until, and after, that first day. I am going to try this. There is a virtual academy and there is home school, soooo....if it is not to my liking...who knows what will happen.... I really want her to go because I know she is different than I. She loves interacting with other children whereas I enjoy the quiet more, away from others. That and all of the sad, tragic news stories...scare me about sending my child to school. I figure I can say that here...but at the same it SCARES me to even say it...think it...but I am a realist and cannot ignore the negative things in life. At the same time, I do believe there is a higher power in charge and the fate of the world has already been written. And if I believe it's written, then I know it cannot be changed. So...I live my life day to day. I do everything I can to have a good day and to make it through one day and then I deal with the others as they come. School and my child - I definitely see it the same way. Things can happen walking out the front door or just driving down the street....one day at a time and I am breathing, slow and steady...lol!

Now on to something on a lighter note and more "fun" note- photography related. I moved from a crop to a full-frame sensor recently. I love, love, love being able to use my 50mm lens indoors. I still love the 35mm f/2.0 because of its sharpness, but the creamy, smooth textures from the 50 are what I crave. I even can use the 85mm inside. Now I will say, that since we have moved- the apartment is bigger than where we stayed before so I actually had enough room to use the 50mm on my 7D. Today, I got to play with one more little gadget - an Expodisc. It measures the light coming into the camera and using the information it collects to select the correct white balance. If it is anything I hate correcting in my photos, it is white balance. I can get focus. I can try to be creative but most times I do not show my photos because I get caught up in correcting the WB in ALL five million of the shots I took. Lol!! I need the color to be the same in them all and it does not always happen that way. I wish it did...but it does not unfortunately. The Expodisc is a wonderful tool- especially indoors, with or without flash. I have tungsten and fluorescent bulbs in this place, so some rooms are too yellow and others are too blue...lol! Best way I could think to explain that...sorry! Switching the Kelvin WB so frequently and still having issues was just driving me nuts. The neutral color Expodisc is just amazing. The colors it produced...ohh I could kiss this thing.. I barely touched my photos that I am about to share. I made the colors a little richer and added a slight haze, but for the most part I did not do much.

I will warn you that there are photos of my daughter laying, standing and sitting on my dining table. I am very aware of this. When I turned around from getting her lunch plate off the table, I was in shock and yelled, "sit down and let me get the camera off the counter to get some photos." lol!!! So we played. These images are not perfect and may have several technical flaws, but they are what our life is like. :)

This one is right after her mismatched lunch of pizza, baked beans and rice.

I had to get a photo of her Thursday socks...love these!

Somewhere towards the end she thought she was a superstar. :)

Thanks for looking and for visiting!

Her Words...Not Mine

2013-04-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

April is here and the anxiety of my child turning 5 years old in May is really getting to me. I have never been one to ask others to babysit. She is my child and I wanted to have her for a reason. I love being around her. Yes, she jumps on every last nerve I have...and at the end of the day, I laugh about. How can a little person come up with all of these things to do? Lately, her vocabulary has been changing and she is using new words. It is FUNNY to hear her come up with these outlandish phrases.

- The Word: Obvious. I am giving her a bath and cleaning around her ear piercing with peroxide. She looks at me and says, "It's obvious what you are doing." I am like 'yes' ...I know...I was not trying to hide. Now be still. lol!

- The Word: Awkward. We were watching "One for the Money." Well more like, I was watching and she decided she was tired of iPad games. There is a scene where the lady was handcuffed to her shower rod and had to call her partner (a guy) for help. He comes in and does his lines nonchalantly..and Aida sounds off, "Awkward! Real awkward!" I burst out laughing. I had no idea what to say because it was very awkward... lol!

- The Word: Options. Now this one happened tonight. Whenever I am on Facebook, she wants me to read her all of the messages I get or anything that makes me laugh. I was talking to my sister and passed a message to Aida that her Aunt said hello. Well, she says "hey" and then wants to know if she can go to her house. When I respond that she will see her aunt and cousins soon, she tells me that there are options. It was like she did not like my answer and was waiting for a better idea or answer.

The girl is too funny though. Her dad says he was missing out on conversations with her while we were apart for a couple of months. He has no idea! Her idea of conversation now is so much different. I love to hear her pulling words from things we have said or that she has seen on TV. I know...I know ... all about TV ruining kids. BUT...of course there is a but...I absolutely loved learning new words from reading the closed captioning and once I learned to read, I read any and every thing just so I could read and discover more words. I have been teaching her and coaxing her to do more sounding out. She tends to give that "I can't read" response, but I told her, "if you know the letter sounds, you can figure out the words."

I got a chance to create a page for Easter. I did not think I would since it is just the three of us. We had a nice, relaxing weekend though.

digital product used:

The Bunny Trail by Tracey Monette

And a couple more recent pages:

digital products used:

Happy Go Lucky by Allison Pennington

Color Me Happy Snip-Its by Amy Jaz

Template: Popping Tags by Fiddle-Dee-Dee

digital product used:

A Simple Kind of Man by Traci Reed and Julie Billingsley

Thanks for looking!! I am off to read some Anita Blake.... :)

Just Another Day

2013-03-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today I am officially 29 years old. I have never put a lot of thought into my age or worrying about how old I am ... it is merely a number. I have always felt like I was born in the wrong year or dimension for my fellow supernatural/other world phenomenon believers. I like to keep this day a secret. This will be the first time in a very long time I have mentioned it. It has always been just another day for me. No excitement. No fun. Just work and keep it moving. My daughter sweetly wished me happy birthday and said she wanted to make me a cake but did not know how. I told her she did not need to make me a cake; her sweet smile is enough for me. Usually the day is a downer for me but I think today will be a "whatever...and I will do whatever when I fee like it" kind of day...lol! That was a lot huh?!? Anywayyy...

I have been playing around in photoshop with my photo processing. I have so many actions that I spent money on but most times it is my own way of editing that I like. I like clean, colorful photos but I also like the matte finish with rich color. Creamy tinted whites are okay some days. It really depends on the photo. I have a photo of my daughter from the other day enjoying a bowl of Froot Loops. I love, love lifestyle images. The ones that are not posed, but clutter-free and all you see is "the moment." I tried to get that in this photo.

My main problem when I am editing a photo is with skin tones and it starts with my daughter. Her skin actually looks yellow in real life. Like if I had the color scale next to her, she would have more yellow than anything else. I have read so many articles about skin tones and color correction that my head hurts thinking about it, but it is not helping me with my daughter...only confusing me...lol! So that is why I turned the above image into black and white. Less distraction and no more funky colors. Changing it to black and white can seem like cheating sometimes but some images are better without color; it's like the message is more clear and not a lot of "filler" material to distract from it.

On a different note, I finished another project life page. It takes me a while to finish these but they are so worth it. I have printed most of these already and I love to go back and see what "we" were doing last year.

Now I am off to find some lunch.... :)

Nice and Clean

2013-03-24T00:57:00.001-07:00

For my daughter and I, the days we wash our hair are long and seem never-ending. Her hair has the same curl pattern as my own but it is soft..almost like cotton balls. Her hair absorbs moisture much more quickly than mine. So, when it is time for a wash, I have to take my time to get it clean and make sure it gets moisturized at the same time. On this particular day, I decided to let her hair air dry while styled into a puff. I twisted it the next day in her usual twists but I am sure she was mad at me. It was a chore to untangle...but hey...she looked cute wearing her puff!

Looking at this photo over and over, I have no idea why her mouth is tooted into this position. Lately she has been very picky about when she wants to have her photo taken. Maybe I am getting on her nerves? Lol!!

Ohh I had a bit of a task the past few days. I was sitting here trying to decide what to do with my very first DSLR. There might be package coming my way this week with a new shiny toy..but I am not admitting anything right now. Since my Rebel has been sitting around, I figured why not sell it. I used to take it with me when we were out and about but I always opted to take my 7D instead (even if it is bigger).

So, I packaged up my very first DSLR and sent her off...and hopefully to a new home.My daughter was more sad to see it go than I was. She kept trying to hide items as I boxed it up. I made sure to rest her little mind knowing that we have other cameras she can still use. Pshh! She has my old iPhone4, the family's iPad and both have camera, games and more....I think that is more than enough for a 4 year old.:)

Project Life Update & More

2013-03-23T00:26:00.003-07:00

Yes. I am still working on Project Life. Yes. I am still on 2012. Now I read somewhere that there should be no such thing as "being behind on Project Life." I cannot remember where but I am slightly offended...mainly because I am behind. Lol! You know working and being mama and doing all of that other stuff around the house does not leave a lot of time to do whatever the heck I wanted. I mean....my daughter's albums are pretty much up to date...just need to print some pages. My project life pages are not so simple. I know they should be but I wanted them to reflect me and what I like...and that's not always simple. So...I will do this my way and maybe I will be able to "catch up" since I have time now. Sooo in honor of that ramble...guess what...I finished a couple more pages...lol!!

digital products used:

365 Unscripted: Die Cut Cards 2 by Traci Reed
Nutty Family by Mari Koegelenberg and Penny Springmann
Cindy's Layered Cards: Mini Journalers 1 by Cindy Schneider
Blue Skies Ahead by Jenn Barrette

digital products used:

Layered Dates Sets: 20 and 21 by Cindy Schneider
You Make Me Happy Collab by SSD Designers
Life is Sweet Alpha by Studio Basic
InstaFrames by Sahlin Studio
Messy Stitches by Katie Pertiet

The last page I wanted to share was inspired by something I was reading and (so conveniently) cannot find now. Basically it was about different ideas to add journaling to your page and one of the examples used word bubbles as their journal space. I got a chance to try it out on this next page and love how it turned out.

digital products used:

Collection 109 (template) by Janet Phillips
Layered Dates Set: 24 by Cindy Schneider
Chalk To Meby Erica Zane

And I just love Cindy's new layered dates...ohh! You can clip papers to the layers or color in the layer with colors from the page you are creating. It is a really neat way to display the date and have it add more of a visual appeal to your page. I am thinking I will be using these a lot.

Thanks for visiting! Hope your weekend is off to a good start!

So Many Flowers

2013-03-16T22:40:00.004-07:00

Saturday...Saturday.... I no longer count down the week days waiting on the weekend to get here for relief. My mind is clear. Sometimes it is too clear that I start to think of or find things that I just need to be doing. Being a working mom since my daughter was born makes it a little more trying to be a stay at home mom. She is 4 and we are able to do more things, but there have been days that I felt like I was just getting to know this little human being next to me. That made me sad. Fast forward a few days and you have her telling me she wants mommy to get a job so that she can go to a new daycare and make new friends (she is such the social butterfly!). We only have a few months or so left until she begins school and I am not sure how we will make it. Some days she wants to leave the house and some days she does not. I ask her to play or start some reading exercises and she is like, "Mommy, I am busy." Lol! So that makes it hard to determine how she really is feeling. I know she is okay but I also know she likes to be more social than I.

I have always been quiet and to myself. I have moments where I wish I had someone to talk to but those moments are not very common for me. Most times I would rather enjoy the quiet or I will just talk to Denard or call and see what one of my parents is doing. Aida is a little different; she is more outgoing, like her father. I have made us a little calendar of the things going on in the area at the library, Childrens' Museum and natural science center. Hopefully she will enjoy those.

Today, we attended the Madison Kids Expo which she enjoyed but, according to her dad, she was the best behaved child there. She was waiting her turn for everything, saying 'please and thank you', and being careful not to bump into anyone. She was more polite than most of the adults there..lol! I mean it was weird! She eventually loosened up. She got to get in a firetruck, see some really cool animals and bounce in a play house and trampoline. She even won a free month of martial arts classes, which she has been asking about before we got here. It reminded me of the Southern Women Show that was in Birmingham, except this one was focused on kids. It was pretty cool. I will have to come back later with photos.

I do have a few scrap book pages to share - a few of my recent favorites. Although I hate flowers on anything that I buy (clothes, bedding, towels, blankets, etc), I tend to put them all over my pages. I am not sure why. It is like addicting for me.

These first couple of pages are using some of Gina of Digital Design Essentials latest releases. I just love the bright colors; I probably got carried away with them on this first page. :)

digital products used: all by Digital Design Essentials -

Neon Crush Paper Pack
Neon Crush Journaling Cards
Neon Love Paper Pack
Label Crush
Instax Crush
Paper Lace
Creative Spark Collection
Live Free
Oh Happy Day

This next page, I had to do it. I had gotten these adorable photos of Aida in the snow in her pink coat and I knew this wood paper would be perfect with the pink.

digital products used: all by Digital Design Essentials

Holiday Cheer Kit
Fridge Magnets Alpha: Pink
Neon Love Paper Pack
Neon Love Paper Pack
Beyond Measure
Everyday Tags
Happiness Lives Here
Creative Spark Kit

This last page is one that just kind of came together as I went. I needed it to have black & white and color photos but I wanted to use the same photo. I wanted nice girly, soft colors and lots of layers all over these tags. Each tag (in my mind) had a little theme. The first I applied a paint stroke with flowers, and then the next was the ribbon and paper strips, the third one was circle layers (papers, a frame and circular element) and the last was a ribbon with a couple of card elements from the kit held down with a ribbon. Then I just started adding in the photos where I wanted those and add a few more elements. I loved the lace pieces in the kit so I had to add those in somewhere. The stitches on the lavender mat paper were made using the hyphen of a plain font (cannot remember which one) and applying a shadow. This is probably one of most favorite pages I have made this year just because I got a chance to go with the flow and just let it happen.

digitals product used:

Everyday Life: Tags by Juliana Kneipp
Yesterday, Today and Forever by Juliana Kneipp and Sugarplum Paperie

Thanks for visiting! :)

Playing with Flash

2013-03-15T11:48:00.002-07:00

For the past couple of years, I have had a Canon speedlight. Only once have I fiddled around with it off camera. I never actually tried to learn it, master it or anything. Tuesday of this week was a "get to know you" kind of day with my flash. With my camera, I am able to enable the on-camera flash to act as a trigger for the external flash (Canon 430 EX II). It was pretty cool and I just did some test photos with my silly child and her wild hair.

My bedroom is pretty dim during the day since there is not a lot of sun coming through the window. I saw the flash on the window sill (to my left) and let my subject jump around on the bed while attempting some photos. I like the lighting in this photo but there are still a few shadows on her face. The light and shadows are soft and not as harsh as they normally are when I have the flash attached to the hot-shoe on my camera. This is the SOOC version.

To get rid of some of the shadow on her forehead and the right side of her face, I decided to try the Color Sampler tool in Photoshop.

At first, I was like what in the heck to I do with this but after a little Google and looking again at the info it was displaying my little blonde moment was ended. So- this tool is basically like the eyedropper tool but more. You can select multiple points on an image or photo and it will give you the RGB values for each of those points. Now I am going to take these values, create 2 or 3 new layers above my photo and choose a blend mode that lighten up these shadows on her skin. This what my screen looks like after selecting a few points that are well lit on her face.

Using the paint brush tool at 0% hardness and 100% opacity, I chose two of the lighter RGB values and painted on the darker areas of her face on 3 different layers.The first layer has blend mode of 'soft light' at 100% opacity, the second layer has blend mode of 'soft light' at 60% opacity and the third layer has blend mode of 'soft light' at 50% opacity. This is the result:

Now her skin tone is a little more even and not so flat. The shadows are lifted just a bit but they are still there, which I do not mind. I just would not want those as a distraction. It is little things like this that I notice during the taking of a photo and after once I see it on the computer monitor. My final edit would be something like this:

This was a learning experience for me with the flash and Photoshop...and I am still learning. I do know that I am definitely going to be experimenting more with my flash. I love natural light but I also am not afraid to use an additional light source. Not everyone has big windows and lots of sun indoors, so it helps to learn to make your situation work for you. :)

In a List

2013-03-11T00:34:00.003-07:00

So I have made it through my first week in the northern part of the U.S. of A. and this Alabama girl sure has some things to get used to. I thought I would just list a few of my thoughts of things I wish I had known before moving to Wisconsin....while it is still VERY cold! :)

#1 - I wish I had known I needed 2 or more pairs of socks inside the house. My fiance has had the temp around 70 degrees and my toes have been completely numb. My entire body is cold; I bumped up the temp a few degrees and can finally feel the warmth in my toes. I surely need more socks.

#2 - I wish I had known how cold WIND can really be. We went to the grocery EARLY Saturday...well before 1 or 2 pm and the WIND hit me and whipped straight through my ear canals and made me feel like I might just get the flu, congestion or something from that wind alone. It was crazy!

#3 - I wish I had known NOT to try to go to dinner after sundown. We ventured out to Texas Roadhouse on Friday evening. The food was good but my teeth were chattering the entire walk to and from the restaurant and during our wait to be seated (it was VERY crowded).

#4 -I wish I had known that I would not regret stocking up on non-perishable items. The weeks before I left, I bought all kinds of paper products, toiletries and food items whenever I saw they were on sale. I bought the paper goods in bulk at Sam's. Now the tax up here is MUCH cheaper and I do LOVE that but I will sacrifice a few extra dollars to avoid the cold and suffering I have to go through to get to the store.

There are a few more things but I am sure those will come up some other time. I do know that I am glad to have my two loves and I back under one roof. We had a great lazy Sunday. On Saturday, Aida got her first board game (Super Why ABC Game) and handheld game system. Her dad spoils her way too much. She is doing pretty well though. The other day she told me that I should go to work so that she can go to a new daycare and make new friends. I thought we would enjoy this time before she begins school, but it seems like she is trying to escape...lol! I have some things planned for us during the coming weeks though. We will see how that goes.

Here's a photo of her today as she was about to "leave." She got upset with her dad for telling her to turn the volume down on her game, so she planned to leave and go to another house.Lol!! I do not know what she was thinking.

Off to bed for me....later!

We are here

2013-03-07T11:17:00.002-08:00

We finally got everything loaded up and moved to our new place in Wisconsin. It took us longer to get here since we had to stop for gas quite often and give the kids (my daughter and her little cousin) breaks to stretch and go potty. I was knocked out as we approached the city. Denard claims to have been trying to wake me up...of course, I remember none of this....lol! I was up just in time to see us approaching the community where we would be living. I was just in awe at all of the snow and even more in shock at the cold I felt when I stepped outside. It was about 3 or 4 am when we finally got inside and got settled. My parents followed us up here...and that was such a blessing. My parents and my great-nephew got settled into their hotel and the three of us snuggled up on an air mattress. That was the coldest sleep ever! I knew we had to get the furniture in and the bed up soon as we could the next day.

That morning I woke up around 9 and waited a little bit to get up. Aida must have a sixth sense about when my eyes open because she was soon looking around. I started getting bundled up to get some things out of my car and she followed. The moment we stepped out the door she asked, "Mommy, can I make a snow angel now?!?" Keep in mind, she has been asking me this all week and the past two months that her dad has been sending her pictures of the snow. I did not even get a chance to answer her. Next thing I knew, she had flopped back into the blanket of snow and starting moving her arms and legs.She was enjoying herself and I was panicking because she only had 2 extra outfits until we started unpacking. And there she is...having the time of her life laying in the super cold snow.

A day or two later, after most of our unpacking was done, I took her and her cousin outside to play in the snow and get a few pictures.

I am excited to finally be able to use a scrapbook kit with snow related elements and have photos to go with it...lol!

Now I am off to fix her something to eat and start washing my hair (I reallllyyy do not want to..lol!)....

A Little Different

2013-02-25T21:47:00.001-08:00

Today was the first day with Aida and I at home - no work and no daycare. That was how we had labeled our weekdays the past few years. "This is a work and daycare day"- I would remind her each morning. It got to the point where if I was taking off to give us some time together, she would ask when she was going to daycare. It made me sad but I knew how we got to that so I understood. My sweet child has also been reminding me of her daily activities that normally go on at daycare. I wonder what happens if I keep deviating from the plan that she believes is the right way to do things.

We got a chance to work on some alphabets which she was excited to do. She loves to learn and write. The only problem is that she also loves to be the boss. Hard to be the leader of things if you are practicing/learning the info at the same time. Or at least I thought so.

Most of our day was filled with packing and doing laundry. "Oh how fun!" ..ha! Did I mention that part? I really am already not liking this move thing. There is just too much to do. Add in the fact that I am a scatter brain and it is just chaos. I see one thing I need to do...I start that task and then I remember something else and start on it. Sooo....I have like 3 or 4 tasks all started at the the same time. I cannot just pack one room. I go from room to room doing things...lol! Does that even make sense now that I have typed it out? Probably not! Sorry! lol! Yes- I tend to "lol" a lot....so if that annoys you, you might want to run now away from my blog. :)

Anddd... I even had a minute to complete a page I had started the night before. Silent applause here! :)

These photos on the layout are from two years ago. I have so many that I have not had the chance to scrap but hopefully I can make up for some lost time. Every few weeks or so I try to create a page just for me. I choose the photos and then the kit and just let it go from there. I have had a lot on my mind lately so my scrapping morale has been pretty low. I decided to use a template that would be one I would normally shy away from and do my best to "make it my own." I really love how this page turned out. The following digital products were used:

Grasshopper Pie Template by Little Green Frog Designs
She Believed She Could Fly by Erin Kay Studio
One in a Million Alpha by Erin Kay Studio & Stolen Moments Designs

It is late here and I can not stay up past midnight anymore. I have tried and keep failing. Ever since I took a week off before Christmas, and was sleeping when my body wanted me to sleep, I have not been able to stay up past 11 pm; and if I do, I never make it to midnight. Later!

My Bright Idea

2013-02-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

So here I am the other day trying to think of how I am going to take control of my life and make some changes about my weight. I have a habit of start to workout for a good two weeks and then I completely stop for a month or so ...and then I feel bad, start again.....then the cycle repeats. Well, I figured because of my DNA that I needed some diet changes and to exercise. I was scanning Pinterest for all of these smoothie recipes and decided to try some. I was so excited. Did not one time stop to think about my fruit allergy. So I buy the fruit, almond milk, spinach and oat and proceed to making my smoothie. It looked green and gross [recipe called for 2 cups of spinach] but it did not taste bad. Within seconds, my lips, inner mouth, face, throat and hands are starting to itch. My throat itches so bad that I wish I could remove my esophagus so this smoothie does not get any deeper in my digestive tract and make me itch even more...lol! I look around the empty kitchen and proclaim I must be an idiot. LOL!!! Cause who else would do all of that and forget they have an allergy to the best part of the recipe [the fruit]. I mean I don't know what made me think I would not have a reaction. Surely I will scrap about it one day. ..but mannn...I really need to think more before I act...lol!!

Enough with my silliness.... I really wanted to post today to share some of my latest pages. I plan to work on some project life pages in a few but I have a few recent favs.

digital products used:

You Only Live Once by Jenn Barrette

digital products used:

You Hold The Key To My Heart by Zoe Pearn & Jenn Barrette
Art and Soul Alpha: Bundle by Julie Billingsley
Font: A Gentle Touch by ByTheButterfly

digital products used:

DIY: Renovate by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Shawna Clingerman

digital products used:

Ink Pot by CD Muckosky
Fig Tree {elements} by Sara Gleason
Year of templates vol.11, Kitsch Papers, Sketchpad Papers, Key to my Heart Papers and Elements, Paper Piercing/Stitch Holesby Sahlin Studio

digital products used:

Simply Wonderful by Erica Zane, Studio Basic Designs, and Sugarplum Paperie
Font: My Boyfriend’s Hand by Darcy Baldwin and Studio Basic
Easy Breezy Part 14 by Busy Bee Designs

Thanks for visiting!!

Early Surprise

2013-02-11T21:22:00.000-08:00

When we got home today, there was a wonderful surprise waiting on our doorstep. Aida loves to get deliveries even more than I do. As soon as she saw the boxes, she ran onto the porch. She was already smiling from ear to ear before I could get the box opened. She squealed and batted those eyelashes and goes "ohhh DaDa you shouldn't have!" I fell out laughing...lol!!! Here is Aida's surprise from her Da-da....

I am out for the night...thanks for visiting!!!

It's Official!

2013-02-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

In a few weeks, Aida and I will be joining the old man (Denard) in Madison, Wisconsin. She is excited about seeing her dad. I am pretty sure she will trample him when she sees him cause it's been about two months. So far, she has done well with the temporary change of routine. I always tell her our "plan" for anything that we do. I have been doing that since she was an infant and now that she is older, she tends to ask me every day "what are we doing mommy." For the most part, I state out loud what I am going to do so that I can remember. If I hear or see it, I will remember the moment I heard it or read it like it is a movie and that makes things easier to remember, but it has also helped her when we need to do things that are not part of our normal routine. She knows what to expect so it is not a surprise to her and if she needed to have a tantrum about it, most times, she will have had it when I was telling her the plan. Some times it works out and some times it doesn't ....lol!! I just try to go with the flow. :)

This past Thursday was our weekly 'breakfast for dinner' meal. Aida's favorite meal, or at least the one she eats the most of, is breakfast. She decided that blueberry pancakes sounded like a good idea. I was willing to try just one because she changes her mind so fast. Before I could tell her how many blue berries to add and when, she had put them all in the batter. :(

At least we had fun making breakfast, right?!? lol!!

I only tasted a little of the pancakes and they were pretty good. I could definitely eat them without syrup. Aida, however, covered them in syrup shortly after I took the photo...lol! I should have gotten a picture of that moment...totally slipped my mind. I was just ready to sit down.

I am going to scrap a little and look for a bed. Can I just say that bed shopping is the most painful thing ever?!?! I am very picky but I thought it would be easy to find a black, modern queen or king sized bed that I like. NOT!! What was I thinking? I probably wasn't thinking. Oh well...I have got to keep trying since I do not have a lot of time left to find one....