This week

After reading my last post I've resolved to never update my blog after 10:00 PM ever again!  I apparently get rambly and punchy at about 1:00 AM!

This week I'm resolved to stick with two goals : 1. getting my artistic to-do's caught up; 2. and more importantly, make progress with potty-training.  Since the second goal pretty much dictates that me and Sofia stay close to home, I'm hoping the first goal will be more easily accomplished. 

Later this week I'm going to start a new project, and I hope anyone reading this will play along. Look for an update Tuesday or latest Wednesday for the post. And be sure to check the SFAC forum!

A Not So Wasted Day

It's amazing how, even though the goal of staying home for the last few weeks was (for the most part) achieved, not much was actually accomplished!  Today I celebrated the act of not doing much by spending it watching Patti and Diana work toward building their business. Some definite progress was made, and it was actually another remarkably relaxing day.

John will be back to work this week, and Sofie will start preschool "full" time, and my hope is that I will be more productive in the coming weeks. My friend Diana just wrote about how there never seems to be enough time in the day for all the things she want to do, and yet there are people who seem to conquer the world on a near daily basis. My dream for this week is I become more like these "world conquering" people!  The first goal : potty-training.

Sofie has already had some potty success (could Election Barbie be forgotten!), but now it's the time to hunker down and get serious. My plan to conquer the potty? Stay home for anything but school, and spend the bulk of our time sitting on the potty reading books and singing every song we know. Grandma has already offered a fabulous bribe....a family trip to Disneyland if Sof can be trained within the next month!  Sofie is already addicted to watching the Haunted Mansion intro (scary!), and singing along with the birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room on the Disney website.  Anything to keep her motivated!!

Fingers crossed we'll have success!!   And advice is always welcome.

What a week!

Just when you think you've seen just about everything, something new appears. This is Election 2008 Barbie, and Sofia picked her out all by herself; Sofia earned a treat for going potty at Les Schwab, her first public potty success (it was the cleanest public restroom I've ever seen!).  She insisted she wanted a Barbie, and I relented. I offered Bridal Barbie or Fairy Barbie, but once Sofia saw Election Barbie it was the only one she would consider.  Election Barbie comes with a cell phone, computer, and an Inaugural gown. We're not sure of Barbie's political leanings, but she makes Sofia happy.

It should be a very hectic week, between John's surgery and the onset of the cold season; Matthew's been home for most of the week with a fever, and I seem to be falling victim to it as well.  I've decided, however, that unless it's critical, no one is leaving the house! We have enough groceries and household items, and Netflix and Kindle continue to provide entertainment, so as a family we have no excuse to not relax after the chaos that has gone on since spring. As John likes to joke, we need to "stop and take it all in."

It seems this election has been going on for years, and when you do the math, it almost has! I heard somewhere today, that this election process has been going on for the last 20 months, which is about two thirds of Sofia's lifetime! While I'm excited about the prospect of change, I'm just as thrilled at the idea of no longer having to listen to the mud slinging and political rhetoric of a campaign.  To that end, I wanted to do something to celebrate this event, and have decided to treat the day as a "new years" of sorts; and besides, because John as surgery on Election Day, we've already voted via absentee ballot, so now all that's left to do is sit back and enjoy the democratic process in action.

I've decided to spend the next two days working through my current creative to-do list (shown above), while watching one of my favorite documentaries, the History Channel's "The Presidents" series. I find it strangely addictive! And whenever I work on a huge project, such as painting a room or finishing a lengthy to-do list, I turn this on; since it lasts 6 hours it gives me a fun and easy way to gauge my progress. 

I will be posting pictures of some of my completed projects, and the kids in their Halloween costumes later this week!

On A Scrappy Note....

A few days ago Jenni Bowlin put up some sneak peaks for next month's kit....the papers are wonderful!  I love her style, and November's kit promises to be one of my favorites.  And I cannot wait to see if she releases some kits of her classes from Silver Bella, they would be a great addition to our stockpile of Christmas decorations!

As a fan of Tim Holtz, I'm thrilled Distress Stickles are hitting the market! Personally, I have a lot of fun with glitter, and Stickles have been made using glitter much easier, because using glitter can otherwise be so messy; with Stickles I don't find glitter on the kids once I'm done with a project. With Distress Stickles it will finally be easier to get the glass glitter look, without having to risk getting glass shards in your hands. 

Ali Edwards has put some more examples from blog readers for her "Week in the Life" project, and they are all so beautiful! The project is such a great idea, and it fabulous to see what people are doing with it. And Ali's Halloween mini book is really cool, definitely worth checking out; I definitely need to get some more of the Hambly web rub-ons after seeing what she's done with it!

The Golden Gate

As usual, having Andy here makes for a fun weekend. This time we spent the afternoon crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, and having dinner on Fisherman's Wharf, typical touristy stuff John and I have done many times before, but are always fun to do again.

Today was the perfect day for being on the bridge, clear skies and wonderful breeze (and not just from the passing cars), and there were seemed like hundreds of sailboats in the bay. 

Once again it's become an incredibly hectic week, a recurring theme around here. I did get some time to work on the newest Jenni Bowlin project kit, otherwise it's been doctors appointments, meetings and a field trip!

Here's what I got to do to make myself happy in the midst of crazines...I'll post pictures of the finished products later (or you can visit Jenni's site, since it'll be exactly the same :) )

SFAC Monday Challenge - That's me?!?

I love this idea, scrapbooking a picture of yourself from childhood. It's so easy to focus on preserving our children's antics, but frankly my kids are just as interested in what me and my husband did as children. I've had a great time this afternoon digging through my baby pictures, reminiscing about things like this swing set; in my mind this was the coolest thing I'd ever had! 

To add to my crafting pleasure, I've finished six layouts in the last two days, and I can still see the top of my desk and the floor in my office!! It's truly a scrapbooking miracle. Furthermore, my mom sent me "Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day", and I can't wait to watch it tomorrow while I work on the SFAC challenge. Tomorrow promises to be a great day :) 

I saw this bumper sticker when we were in San Francisco last week, and I love it!!  And it reminded me how much I love some forms of Danish food....I'm craving frikadeller!!  So bad!! 

Between this, and the most recent post on Pink Latte, I want to job on a plane right now for an extended stay in DK. It's been way too long!!

A Day at the Museum

We spent an adventurous afternoon at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, Matty wanting to see dinosaurs, and the rest of us wanting something fun and interesting to do. I've been there several times growing up, but hadn't been back in about 20 years. A major renovation has just been finished, and though we saw most of the museum, there a few things we need to go back and check out.

One of the coolest things they had was a rainforest exhibit, at the top there were hundreds of butterflies, or according to Sofie, "butterbies"; she was chased by a butterfly across the atrium, much to the delight of about 40 people!  After that she enjoyed the "butterbies" from a safe distance.

Today was my last day for Ali Edwards "Week in a Life" challenge, and now I have to start figuring out how I want to put everything together. She has some great formatting ideas, including templates for creating separation for each day. Her finished project looks great, and she uses baseball card pages for hers! I love that idea, and plan to "scraplift" it. 

I also want to send a shout out to the Scrap for a Cure girls for the success with their October kits. They have only two of the main kit left, and I highly recommend it; they are serious that there is 25% more product...I've never had this much stuff come in a kit! Check it soon, last I checked there are only 2 left.

New adventures...

Finally the weather started to be more autumnal, and we could go for a walk without suffering heat stroke!  And Sof was able to start utilizing her birthday gifts...she looks fabulous her new sunglasses; the stroller also got quite a workout.  She actually made it almost all the way home pushing the stroller herself, for which John was very grateful.

The other remarkable event of the day was that I was out of bed at 4:45 am on a Sunday!  I spent the morning at the Alameda Antique Fair with friends, and found some great items, including a typesetter drawer I've been lusting for ever since I saw what Ali Edwards did with hers.  It's in great condition, and just needs some minor repairs, then I can start filling it with goodies!

Speaking of Ali Edwards, I've had a wonderful time working on the Week in a Life challenge, it's really jump started my enthusiasm for scrapbooking. Things have been so hectic lately it's been difficult to focus on one project long enough to complete it; but Week in a Life has refocused my attention, and it's been so much fun focusing on the everyday things that are usually so mundane, and distract from other things I'd rather be doing. I'll try to have photos up later this week of some finished products.