Sunday, October 05, 2008
Well, I’m completely finished! With my grandparents’ Christmas gifts, that is. I got an email from Shutterfly Thursday or Friday saying they were offering 30% additional photo books and free shipping on orders of $25 through October 8th, and I just had to jump on that. Every year I like to compile a volume of my favorite Mia layouts over the past year to give to her three sets of grandparents. I hate having to figure out what to give who, so photo books are really the perfect solution for the grandparents, especially since we don’t live near any of them and they don’t get to see her much. It’s a good way to share with them how she’s grown over the past year.
Yesterday, I decided I’d better sit down and get the books done before I missed the offer completely. The challenge was that I haven’t scrapped very much at all since the spring, and there were huge gaping chronological holes in between layouts. I did some quick scrapping to fill in the blanks (results below), and got 4 books ordered (one for each set of grandparents, and a master copy for us to keep). Yep. So, yay! That’s pretty much the biggest part of my Christmas shopping, finished. Which is awesome, because I really hate shopping. Ick. I think my shopping gene was accidentally replaced with a video game/computer nerd gene. Oh, well. 
Click here for credits
Click here for credits
Click here for credits
Click here for credits
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Mia had just finished watching Cinderella (she calls it “Cin-brlah"), and wanted me to play it again. I turned the TV off, explained to her that we only watch one movie a day, and that now it was play time. So she ran into her room and brought out her magnadoodle. Pushing it into my lap, she said, “Draw TV!” So I drew a TV and handed it back to her. She immediately pushed it back into my lap and said, “Want Cin-brlah on TV!” So I drew Cinderella (as a stick figure) on the TV. Now she’s staring at her magnadoodle. Oh, my.
Monday, September 15, 2008
For some reason, I am always so tickled when Mia goes off to her room to play, and a short time later when I notice that it’s gotten quiet all of a sudden, I go into her room and find her zonked out amidst a scattering of toys. Possibly one of the most adorable things about this little two-year-old.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Been a while since I posted here! That is because it has been a busy summer, and sometimes it seems like it’s hard to stop and catch my breath! What have I been up to? Let’s see if I can sum it up:
The end of June we attended a weekend family regional meeting for Bobby’s work, which was a lot of fun. It was neat to meet other spouses who have been through the tough times of building a business with their husbands (or wives). Talking with them was encouraging, and I got to learn a little more about how the company Bobby works for runs things. We even got to get away as a family one afternoon and go tubing down the Chatahoochee River (did I mention this was in N. Georgia?)!
Then we went straight from there to my parents’ house in Michigan, where we spent the week of the 4th of July. Hotdogs and fireworks were had at my uncle’s house on the lake, and we saw the whole fam (well, my dad’s side anyways)!
Then, the BIG news of the summer: we moved! I know I mentioned moving in a previous post, and I am happy to report that we got all moved in smoothly. The spiders were pretty determined to hang onto the place, but Bobby finally went out and got whatever insecticide takes care of spiders, and doused the basement, and we’ve been relatively spider-free ever since. Also, my sister moved down from Michigan to rent a room in our basement, so it’s nice to have her here. Of course, she got here just in time for the basement to be torn up. There was some pretty serious water seepage in the basement, and our landlord decided to have a drainage system installed and then have that wall waterproofed (thankfully). So the guys came to rip out that wall and in the process, they discovered rotting wood and termites, which prolonged the work. We’re still waiting for the stairs to be replaced.
My web design business has been pretty steady this summer as well, which I’m thankful for. I love designing and developing websites, and the extra source of income is definitely welcome. I also built myself a new blog called Genevieve Says. It’s more editorial than this one, and less scrapbooking-focused. I still plan on posting updates on my life in general and any new scrapbooking layouts, but if you want to read more you can find me over there, too. Of course, all the web designing means I haven’t had as much time for digi-designing or digiscrapping, but I plan on reorganizing my time here shortly so I can get back to those things again.
I have scrapped three layouts this summer, and here they are:
Click Here for Credits
Click Here for Credits
Click Here for Credits
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
It’s that time of year again. The time of year when we look around us and say, “Hey, I think we’ve lived here long enough. Let’s put all our stuff into boxes and move it to a new dwelling.” I suppose I should just be thankful we’re not living in yurts and drinking fermented goat milk (and people say my east Asian studies degree is useless!). But seriously, this will be our seventh {seventh!} move in six years of marriage. I am bone weary of doing the whole moving thing.
This time we’re moving to the town where our church and B’s office are. I’m glad we’re moving there because it will simplify life for us in so many ways. Our new place is about 3.5 miles from B’s office, and only a little farther from our church, which is going to save us a ton on gas. We were driving a half hour to and from church and/or B’s work. And now we’ll be closer to most of our church friends, and hopefully will be able to be more social.
The downside, however, may be the place we’re moving into. It’s a town home, which means a yard for Mia to play in, and it’s a really good size--both pluses. But we spent the weekend cleaning the place and moving some things over, and we discovered a handful of little (well, and one not-so-little) things that really make me question what kind of guy our land lord is. I’m still a little gun shy of private land lords vs. corporate ones (i.e. apartment complexes) after a really bad experience in Panama City, and this isn’t making me feel any better. First of all, I remember feeling a little leery when the guy showed us the place. He talked a lot and he spoke really fast. And sweated a lot. Granted, he’s on the hefty side, which could explain the sweat, but if my vast spy knowledge (gleaned from Alias, 24 and most recently, Get Smart) serves me correctly, all those things together = someone who has something to hide.
While showing us the very musty-smelling basement, which at that point in time had carpet pulled away from a wall that was being repainted, he assured us that the basement had no more moisture than a normal basement, and it only evidenced itself in the musty smell. A dehumidifier would do the trick, he said. Well, this weekend when we showed up to start moving in, the carpet had water-stains against the newly-painted wall and it was wet to the touch. Brilliant.
That was the not-so-little thing. The little things were a non-working shower head, the general dirtiness of the place (emphasized by toilets that were both mildewed and stained with human waste), and spiders EVERYWHERE. The place hasn’t been occupied in a couple years, we learned from an inside source (who was actually reluctant to tell us anything because s/he doesn’t get along with our land lord--wonderful news). And as I was scrubbing everything that could be scrubbed with copious amounts of bleach products, I wondered why a land lord would let a place that they were actively trying to sell and/or rent go so long with out having it cleaned? I mean, how hard is it to hire a maid service every couple months? Not hard! That is a giant pet peeve of mine: people who do not take care of their property and/or responsibilities. If our land lord is that kind of person, B better be the one doing the maintenance calls because I’m not very good at being diplomatic (ironic, considering I once had aspirations of working in an embassy—God sure knew what He was doing when He put the kabash on that one).
Hopefully, once the basement issue is taken care of, and the shower is fixed, the place will perk up just by virtue of being lived in once again. And hopefully the spiders will all find homes other than the room my sister will be living in (sorry, Moo--your room is one big spider-riddled cobweb right now, but I’m working on it! No quarter will be given to any eight-legged beast in there, I promise you). And hopefully the skunk living next to our garage will move on. Yes. Hopefully.
