my bed.

and tonight I plan to lie in it. ;-)

a framed photo collage.

of my sister's lovely family full of boys.

a paper garland.

Mog came sauntering into the kitchen with some leftover paper strips that I had cut and left on the coffee table during last night's Christmas card making endeavors. And that was all the inspiration it took. Of course! Those leftover strips are perfect for making paper garland, the kind we always used to make as kids. Easy, peasy, and Eliot loved it. After wearing it draped around his neck for awhile, we hung it on the Christmas tree. It was totally fun to work on a simple little crafty project that Eliot could get involved in. I see many a paper garland in our future! :-)

a play-doh snail.

You can see him right here:
http://stop-drop-roll-rachel.blogspot.com/2008/12/tasty-tasty-play-doh.html

a paper snowflake.

From a vintage Christmas hymn book. With Stickles glitter on it for that added beautifimousness.

I am loving Stickles. I want to put it on everything. I want to eat it so that I can poop beautiful glitter. It IS non-toxic...

a fun series of screenshots from my webcam.

another fun discovery.

So I was cleaning out my desk drawer (I know, *gasp*, right?), and I found THESE!!!



Yeah, so these are pencils the school gave us in...what...third grade? fourth? fifth?

I remember we got them for several years in succession, and I always looked forward to receiving them, nerd that I was. I loved the pencils, with the indentation of my name in gold lettering, and I loved the red plastic sleeve they came in.

The "cool" thing to do was to trade pencils with your BFF's. And here you can see how that turned out for me. Apparently my only friends were my sisters, those unfortunate souls required by law to love me.

a gingerbread house.

Well, I helped Eliot make it anyway.

Last year Elecia made "gingerbread" houses for all the kids to decorate at Mom's on Christmas (or was it Thanksgiving?). Anyway, they're graham crackers pasted together with icing, then the grandkids get to decorate them with all kinds of candy using icing for glue.

They had so much fun that she decided to do it again this year. I didn't think Eliot was big enough to be interested, but sure enough, he carefully stuck rows of gumdrops to his roof, one by one.

Until he saw the M&M's, and then he started shoveling candy into his mouth and lost interest in the house. ;-)

a start on my December scrapbook album.

I made one of these in 2006, and it's been one of the few scrapbooks I have that we actually flip through fairly often. It's fun to look at the pictures and the journaling and remember what was going on in our lives then, both the exciting and the mundane.

I've also resolved to make this entire album with supplies I already have on hand. Nothing new! My scrapbook hobby has turned into a buying scrapbook supplies hobby, which is a situation I really want to remedy.

I bought this cool 12x12 page last year around the holidays with the numbers 1-25, so I'm cutting that up and using the numbers to mark my days.

I'll let you know how it turns out. :-)

a discovery.

And that is, I can actually carry a diaper bag, a toddler, a Moolatte from DQ, my car keys, and a cup of ice water and still open the door to the car dealership (which is a pull, I might add, not a push!) with no assistance.

And I discovered that I can also make a total fool of myself by taking my car to the service department to figure out why the "maintenance required" light is on. "Um, yeah, that is a reminder that you're due for an oil change, ma'am." Right-o. And here I thought it was going to be something dire and complicated, involving spark plugs or cylinders or whatnot. Next time I'll read the manual. Before I drag my diaper bag, my toddler, my Moolatte, my car keys, and my ice water, and my stupid self in through the door.

progress on what Eli likes to call my "stitchery."

I started my first embroidery project some time ago, and I work on it little by little whenever I feel like it. It's six quilt blocks, all the same pattern, with a lilac plant and a butterfly on each block.


Because it seems like it will take forever to finish, I'm really not rushed about it. I like that it's something that I can do to unwind. I used to hate crafty crap because I'm such a perfectionist that I never could do anything up to my own standards. So I'm really liking that I can sit back and just enjoy the process of this, without fretting over how it will turn out.

And even as I type this I'm thinking, "Wow. What happened to the old Rachel? I can't believe I just said I'm not worried about the results. I'm actually just enjoying the process."

Yep. Thank you, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, for making all this possible.

a concession.

Mog went from early Saturday morning to Sunday night with no nuk.
And then when it was time to go to bed, I gave him one.
It's all fun and games being a big boy at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and when Zayda's around at MaMa's, but when it comes to home, we're all just big babies again.
*sigh* ;-)

another update to Mom's etsy shop.

another deer sighting.

Mog and I saw six deer out in the field next to our house on the way home today. I'm loving seeing them around our house so often--it makes things feel peaceful. Well, so long as I don't smack any with my car, that is. Knock on wood.

a new home for my old things.

Yeah, so I missed a couple of days. I was moving. It was chaos. I probably won't be able to find my socks or my hairbrush for another few years at least.

another visit to the pediatrician's office with Mog.

He has an ear infection. Again. Even with the tubes.
Grrrr..... :-(

a mistake when pressing the vending machine buttons.

And ended up with a strawberry yogurt granola bar instead of the cherry M&M's I was after. Dammit!

my voice heard.

a donation to UNICEF.

Or, actually, Eliot did. He trick-or-treated for UNICEF on Friday.
His first philanthropic effort! :-)

a little boy feel great big.

Eliot is growing up. Today we went and picked out his very own potty chair. Our son is growing up into a big boy.

a tiny bit of progress in unpacking and organizing the new house.

It shouldn't be long now. Carpet installers are coming on Monday, and then the tub refinisher and plumber sometime this week.
Then we move! :-)

a collection of Etsy favorites.

myself crazy.

Seems like too much all at once lately. Back off, bear!!!

a trip to the one soda machine in town that still sells cans of Coke for 50 cents.

my husband post my blog.

My husband must love me a lot to post this so I wouldn't miss a day. He is the coolest.

do with a poptart for lunch.

A lot of times my lunch is a poptart. Today it was cherry, but I prefer the chocolate ones.

updates to Mom's etsy shop.

a retro block paint pattern on the wall of Mog's new room.

This is the wall his crib will go up against, so it won't look quite so wild once the furniture is moved in. I could not have done this without Mom and Elecia--they actually did all of the taping off and most of the painting. I basically said, "Here's what I want." And they did it. They're awesome.

an effort to rinse almost a gallon of latex paint out of the trunk of my car.

Yeah, thanks, Eli.

Next time you decide to transport paint in my car, make sure the lid is shut tight, okay?

chili and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Comfort food for a cold, rainy day.

And by the time I thought to take a picture, these were the only cookies left:

And...I just polished them off with a glass of milk. Yum.

it out alive.

As my dad is fond of saying, "Some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you."
That feels about right.

a block tower.

Actually, most days we build block towers.

And this picture doesn't really have anything to do with block towers, other than the errant block visible by Mog's foot.

But isn't that the cutest pajamaed tush?!

an Etsy treasury!

These things are semi-difficult to get into, so I'm thrilled to finally have made it! It's just a matter of timing, but still.
Click the link to check out my treasury.
If you aren't already hooked on Etsy, you will be, I promise! :-)

Edited: Sadly, my treasury has already expired. So that link won't get you anywhere. But do check out Etsy anyway, if you're so inclined.

a foray into the world of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.

Yeah, that's right. I'm reading a book about a teenaged girl who falls in love with a vampire. Why? Well...um...because...why not?
The series is threatening Harry Potteresque fame at this point, and I don't want to be the only one who doesn't know what it's all about, right?! Or something like that.
Kate made me do it, I swear. ;-)

Eli happy.

We've had an ongoing debate recently over flooring for the living room. I want carpet; he wants a wood laminate. Guess who just won that argument? I'll give you a hint: we aren't getting carpet. *sigh*

money from my hobby.

Yippee! Got the official check today from my scrapbook layout that's being published in the Feb/March issue of Scrapbooks, Etc. Don't forget to pick up a copy when it comes out (sometime in January) and look for Mog peering out from the page. :-)

a fool of myself.

And had fun doing it!
Every year when we go to the Covered Bridge Festival, Elecia and I buy ridiculous hats and wear them around the rest of the day. It's become as much a part of our tradition as wearing matching t-shirts. This year I was a bat and she was the big bad wolf. Not too difficult for us to spot each other in the crowd. ;-)

a jack-o-lantern.

I drew the face and Eli carved it.

We both scooped out the guts. We thought Eliot would get a kick out of helping with this part, but he didn't want anything to do with it. He thought it was funny when Eli and I would dig into the pumpkin and pull out dangling globs of seedy goo, but he didn't want to touch it at all.

Content to let Momma and Daddy do the dirty work. :-)

a decision to remodel our bathroom.

Well, okay, a decision to have ELI remodel our bathroom. We hadn't been planning on touching the bathroom before moving in, but once we repainted and started fixing up the rest of the house, I guess I just caught the redecorating fever.

It's going to be fabulous--can't wait to post pictures of the finished room.

a trip to the Great Pumpkin Patch.

a list of objects found while cleaning out my purse.

*Sudafed tabs (the good kind, with the pseudoephedrine)
*voter registration card (Obama 2008!)
*a dried up noodle (?)
*gum wrappers
*a (clean) diaper
*Mary Kay night cream
*3 tampons
*a joke bellybutton lint cleaner
*expired coupons for gas and Archiver's
*1 elastic ponytail holder
*a safety deposit box key
*loose change
*Benadryl
*Allegra-D
*current coupons for Dairy Queen, Old Navy, a free bottle of Bissell cleaning fluid, Pizza Hut
*pictures of Eliot at 1 month and at 8 weeks
*address book
*wet wipes

What's in your wallet? :-)

myself drunk from a single margarita.

Sad, but true. Jesus makes the best margaritas. Yum.

a bold move.

letting my three-year-old niece help paint the walls of our new bedroom. But really, not as scary as it sounds. It was inside the closet, after all. ;-)

a photo collage.

These are some of my pictures from Monday of last week, documenting my day. I'm putting pictures from last week together into 4x6 collages (with each picture approx. 2x2) and uploading them to Walmart.com to print. Much cheaper and easier than either printing wallet sizes or 4x6 and then trying to crop.

Maybe this is a project I'll actually complete...

a group of freshmen English students engage in a great conversation about Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love."

No small feat. It always feels good when a class goes well.
I had gotten an email right before class from an old friend who had kind words of sympathy for me on the loss of Molly.
So she was all I could think about during class.
Nevertheless, it went well. I didn't cry in front of my students, and I sucessfully got every one of them to contribute something to discussion.
Well done.
I think she would have been proud.

dirty laundry clean again.

my first real attempt at painting walls.

And found out I suck at it! I tried cutting in the edges first, thinking I would be best at the detail work. And I wasn't. So then I tried using the roller for the middle of the walls. Turns out I'm not so good at that either. Oh well.

Practice makes progress. And I've got plenty more walls to go...

a shadow on the lawn.

And I look like a big, bulky, hulking monster. But really I'm just wearing Eli's jacket. It was cool out this morning. :-)

some extremely ugly wallpaper disappear.

With the help of my mom, sister, and son. What a team!

(Libby's not in the picture because she's behind the

viewfinder of the camera, but she did her fair share of scraping.)

a self-portrait.

a new start.

another series of photographs documenting our day.

I'm continuing the "week in the life" scrapbook project, even though this week has taken such an unexpected sad turn.

This is my life.

Good and bad. Love and heartbreak. Joy and sorrow.

Just taking it all in as it comes.

peace with the grieving process, almost.

a commitment to a "week in the life" scrapbooking project.

You can find details here.

This is just one of the 35 photos that I took today--Mog in the car on our thrice weekly trip to daycare, looking a bit tired. I was angry because apparently my memory card has a bad spot and a couple of my pictures were lost--shots of me and Eli out at the new house. But such is life. Just part of my day.

a post to my other blog.

You can read it here.

a pregnant woman scrub my bedroom floor on her hands and knees.

Yeah, seriously. I'm ashamed. But apparently not ashamed enough to not let her do it.

We got so much work done today! Elecia and I cleaned out the entire bedroom--closet, dresser drawers, even the no man's land underneath the bed. (My closet shelves, which were a piled mess of sweaters, now house only a few pairs of shoes, pajama pants, a couple of sweaters, a belt, and a sheet.)

Grandma Connie watched Eliot and Zayda and fed all of us all day long while we worked, and the guys took truckloads of boxes and furniture over to the new house.

We're getting closer...

some great rummage sale finds.

including a winter coat for Eliot that hopefully will fit him next year.
I only paid $1 for it, so no worries if it doesn't fit at the right time.
I'll just pass it on to one of the nephews.
also plenty of pairs of shorts for next summer and some long-sleeved shirts for this winter.
10 cents apiece! :-)

good use of my library card.

took Eliot to the library, where we checked out a few books, only our second time doing so (up until recently we've just played with the trainset and blocks)

His first two choices were What's On My Head? and I've Been Working On the Railroad, both books that he pulled off the shelf and seemed interested in. I must say, the characterization in What's On My Head? was just so finely drawn, and I've Been Working On the Railroad's plot twists! When someone was in the kitchen with Dinah, I was shocked, frankly. So not expecting that.

(Actually, this particular edition of I've Been Working On the Railroad is pretty cute. I didn't mind that one so much.)

Okay, so I'm a smartass, and not the biggest fan of his book choices so far, so I picked out these next two. I'm loving My Son John. The woodcut illustrations are gorgeous, and I love the extra verses of what was my old favorite nursery rhyme. Pussycat, Pussycat and Other Rhymes I chose because he seems to enjoy the Mother Goose book we have at home. We'll see.

southwestern bundles.

tried a new recipe, a success! much yummier than it looks. ;-)

comments on student essays.

a nature collection w/ mog.

featuring rocks and seed pods from our passion vine.

going back and forth from one side of the driveway to the other,

carrying bits and placing them carefully in the shopping cart basket.

and sometimes not so carefully. :-)

progress.

working on striking a balance between work and home. an ongoing process...

a visit to Log Cabin Village.

(site of oh-so-many warm and toasty childhood memories)
:-)

a discovery.

I found this still pinned to a bulletin board packed away in the storage space above our basement stairs. I can't believe how skinny Eli was! And I had almost forgotten the chin piercing...

(Eli and I, Halloween 1999--ironically, long before he chose to go into nursing)

a packing-up moving mess.

mog's carseat face forward, finally.

it up as i went along.

birthday no-bake cookies.

someone laugh.