Oh and P.S.

I have poison ivy on my face. Again (those of you who remember the
terrible scene from last summer). Luckily it is not nearly as severe
as last time and doesn't seem to have spread to any other parts of my
body. I guess I'll just have to adopt a new policy of never, ever
touching my face when I'm outdoors, since I can't really avoid going
in the yard whatsoever (that was pretty much the policy I adopted last
year. LOL).

Sent from my iPhone

Here we are!

Working with sporadic internet again this week - apparently the corn has grown too high for the dish to see over! Well, hopefully a taller pole will be solving that problem tomorrow. Friday is also bringing us filtered water, a working oven, clean air conditioner filters and a completed guest room remodel (except for curtains - still planning those out). Yeah, there have been lots of PROJECTS going on here and I am so glad they are coming to a close to begin August on the right note (August already??).

Lachlan celebrated his 3 month birthday this week. So crazy! He is such a sweetheart and becoming very talkative with the goos and the gahs. I found a teeny tiny pool, so we filled it up yesterday afternoon and just dipped our toes in. He was definitely dressed for the occasion. :)

Also went to Home Ec on Tuesday for a pillow class with Codi. It was a good motivation for me to start these pillows I've been wanting to make for the two chairs in our hallway nook. You can just barely see it in the detail shot but that yellow is piping around the edge of the pillow. I was really excited to learn how to do it and now that I know, I think I will be piping EVERYTHING! It looks so fancy! Next to be piped (is that a word? anway, you know what I mean) are the curtains for the guest room windows.
Wendy came over this afternoon and we made some little pin/needle wallets for sewing supplies on the go - saw the idea at Home Ec and tweaked them a little bit. Isn't Wendy's fabric to die for. Yum!
Been scrapping for the "Project Catwalk" contest at SIStv - fun challenges that are based on the Project Runway episode each week. Gets my creative juices flowing and at least one page created every week.

If you need some cuteness in your life - a new batch of kitties has arrived at the IBKC! That's all for now - be back soon!

Who's in the mirror?

Recent Creations

I've been busy on the sewing machine working on these gifts for a special new baby, making some wedding gifts, and getting ready for the pillow class I'm taking with Wendy at Home Ec on Tuesday.

Also playing catch-up on getting my Paper Adventure pages photographed and uploaded. If you want to check out my latest pages you can see them in my flickr set. The book is getting f-a-t! Time to upgrade to bigger rings!

MIA

Sorry for being MIA. We had a nice visit to Des Moines over the
weekend, then a big storm knocked out our power for most of Monday and
our Internet access is still down at home. I'll be back ASAP with an
update!

Sent from my iPhone

Tuesday afternoon

Good news - Deb let me know that she would like to watch Lachlan on T & Th after reading my last post. So glad that she is available and excited about it!

(p.s. my new haircut isn't as short as the photo lets on - just all scrunched up on the blanket)

Hello, Tuesday

After cleaning up the debris leftover from our un-wallpapering adventure yesterday, I decided to give that room (and myself) a break today. Working on sewing and crafting some gifts for special friends today, unfortunately I can't show you right now because I wouldn't want to ruin the surprises. Don't worry, I'll take pictures for later. ;)

In other news... laundry; dishes; a nice new haircut; paying bills online; thinking about the yardwork I should be doing; buying fun stuff on Etsy; catching up on Paper 08 pages; wondering why my printer says there's a paper jam when there really is not a paper jam and also wondering why I can't just scan something even if there was a paper jam; trying to locate someone who can put up a nice subtle texture on the newly bare walls in the bedroom before I paint them (now I know it is a drywall person who does this and not a painter. check.); trying to locate someone responsible and caring who can come to our house to watch Lachlan on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when I go back to work at the end of August (I already found a great person for MWF - if you know anyone who might be interested & available, please let me know!); and of course, chatting and cuddling with our little guy. Hope your Tuesday is productive, too! Be back soon with photos...

my weekend

I wasted away one of the most beautiful weekends of the summer inside removing the wallpaper in our guest room. One of those projects I've been wanting to do for a long time and I decided to tackle it on Saturday while mom was here to help. We were planning to apply the removal solution and (as the Menard's guy put it) "let it do the work for us", but that really did NOT work. Long story short, we rented a wallpaper steamer and it still isn't done after hours of work. The good news is that I'll get to pick a fun new color to paint the walls soon and I'll never have to see those polka dots again!

Scrapjacked

Here's my take on the latest jack of Candimandi.

an update

So, I've been MIA, it was quite the crazy week... Last weekend Lachlan and I headed to Des Moines to meet Great Grandma O, visit the Farmer's Market, the DM Art Festival and Thor's painting exhibit.

We had a new fridge and stove delivered this week, which is *awesome*, except the new ice maker not working made us discover that we need to replace our water filtration system and the stove is unfortunately not compatible with the spot we have. Yeah, long, complicated story that ends with us being stoveless until July 15th. But, still exciting.

My amazing in laws and Bill's uncle came over to do lots of tree trimming and other yard work and helped us to make our yard more presentable.

Spent a couple hours cropping with the Reminisce gals at Cindy's house. Or mostly eating and chatting with the Reminisce gals. :)

Had a quiet 4th with our little family at home, cleaning house, walking in the beautiful weather and watching TIVOed John Adams.

Yesterday Great Grandma O & my mom came over and we picked out fabric at Home Ec for a quilt she is going to make for Lachlan. So excited for that! Had lunch at Devotay - yum.

Today was Lachlan's baptism, and we had lots of family here to celebrate with us at the service and afterward at our house. He is so lucky to have so many people who love him!

Phew! That about does it - looking forward to a little more laid back pace this week!

Happy Independence Day!