Seriously Daisies

Sugar & Spice (Printable)

2012-01-09T23:12:00.000-08:00

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice, and everything nice, that's what little girls are made of.

I used to recite this poem all the time when I was a little girl. And I thought it was perfect for the baby shower. Specifically the dessert table. I tried to be lazy, and look for a cute printable online, that would match the shower. But nope, I didn't find one. So off to Photoshop Elements I went to design my own.

I think it turned out really cute! And now I am going to share it with you. And maybe, just maybe it will match your party, and you wont have to design your own. You can just print out this one. :)

(download here)

This is what the printable looks like. There are two on a page, and it is made to fit in the Ikea Tolsby Frame, (which has two sides) I seriously {heart} that frame!! It'll probably fit in any 4x6 frame, but I haven't tried it, so I'm not positive. Now go, download, print, and enjoy!

♥ Kim

Thank Heaven for Little Girls (Printable)

2012-01-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

Yep, I went and disappeared for a few months again. With the holidays, and handmade gifts, and some custom orders from friends for pretty crocheted things, and well, just life, it is hard to find the time to blog. Plus my computer is barely hanging on. If I do anything that uses a lot of memory, like using my Silhouette or PSE, or watching videos (you get the point) it overheats and shuts down. So I have been scared to finishing editing the baby shower pictures. Can't wait until we get our tax refund this year, we are spending it on an iMac.

So, since I haven't finished the pics, and I have had requests for some of the printables from the baby shower, I will share those instead. :)

I made this "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" print to fit in a tiny frame I bought at Michael's.

I resized it to fit 3 different size frames, so you don't have to do any of the work, just download, and print.

Click on the links below to be taken to the download page of your choice.

5x7 8x10 11x14

This print would be adorable in a little girls room (at least my sister thought so) or at a baby shower. But if your here then I'm sure you already have the perfect spot picked out for it. Hope you're having a fabulous new year so far.

♥ Kim

Pink & Gray Baby Shower {Sweets Table}

2011-11-17T12:32:00.001-08:00

I decided to split the baby shower posts into 3 parts. Today is part one. The Sweets Table! I designed the sweets table, and made almost everything on it. My Aunt made the cupcakes, and Liz & Netta made the m&m cookies. Me, Liz and Netta worked together to hang the pom-poms and lanterns. In other words, Liz got up on the ladder, while me and Net told her exactly where everything should go. There was a lot of "a little to the left" or "just one inch toward me, and a couple inches higher". Luckily there was no falling off the ladder!!

I made the cupcake stand!! I seen the prettiest tutu cupcake stands on Pinterest, and just knew I had to try to make one of my own. It was pretty easy, I mostly used things I already had, and only had to buy the tulle, which was a few dollars at Michaels.

I also made a really simple pennant banner for the table. It says "sweet baby girl". It is made from pretty scrapbook papers. I cut the paper into triangles, printed out my letter circles that I made in PSE, cut them out, then glued them on. Then I punched two holed in each triangle and strung it on two strands of grey yarn. Super easy!! I love it when easy things make such a big impact.

I also saved up a few boxes before the party, and then I just covered them with pretty wrapping paper. That way I could elevate some of the desserts. Pretty. ♥

This was the first time I ever made macaroons. I am pretty darn proud of myself. I read lots of tips before starting. And I thought I failed, cause they were undercooked, gooey and had hollow spots inside. I put them back in, but it was too late to make them not hollow. So I just cooked them until they weren't gooey anymore. They seemed good enough, although I tested about half of them in the process of figuring out how long they needed to cook.

After they cooled, they were crispy, and I was sad. But I went ahead and made the filling, which is a white chocolate buttercream, and a raspberry sauce in the middle. I read that if you overcook them by a few minutes, it's OK, because once you add the filling, and put them in the refrigerator for a few days, they will soften up inside. I made them three days early, so, to the refrigerator they went. And they day of the party, I tried one, and they were awesome!! So soft inside, with an eggshell like texture on the outside, YAY!! They still had the hollow spots, but nobody noticed or cared. And everyone loved them!! Plus they look pretty. And I like that.

I also made the Pink Lemonade Pie, the cake pops, the dipped pretzels, the chocolate covered oreos, the marshmallow treat pops and the pretty stickers for the bottoms of the Hershey kisses. I got all that done one to two weeks before the party, and had them packed and ready to go before leaving for California!! It was nice not to rush, or have to bring recipe ingredients to California with me.

I designed the dessert labels, the sugar & spice sign and the thank heaven for little girls sign in Photoshop Elements. And it is hard to see, but I also made two cupcake liner pom poms that I attached to glass candlesticks, and set next to the pink daisies. The tutorial for them is at Kara's Party Ideas. My sister loved them, and is using them, as well as the framed quote, as decoration in the nursery.

I love how everything turned out. It's awesome when it looks just as pretty in real life as it did in my head. Cause trust me, that doesn't always happen!! And that table was almost completely empty at the end of the party too, which is a good thing!!

I'll be back sometime this week with part two {food and drinks}. I have company coming tomorrow, and staying for a couple of days, but after that I should have some free time to finish up those pictures.

♥ Kim

Field of Dreams Baby Blanket

2011-11-15T20:08:00.001-08:00

I have been busy editing baby shower pictures. There are lots of them. So today I will share pictures of the baby blanket I crocheted, that inspired the colors for the baby shower.

Here it is!!

Danetta LOVES this blanket, and I am going to make one for her little girl to be. My niece. ♥♥♥ I am so excited to have another niece!!

She is doing the nursery in colors from this blanket, and from the baby shower. Like the shower, it will be mostly light pink and gray, with just touches of the darker colors. So pretty.

This was the first blanket I ever crocheted. The pattern is here. I love all the flowers. They make the blanket so pretty and girly.

I changed up the colors from the original pattern. And I made a matching amigurumi giraffe to go with it.

It made a really cute little set.

I can't wait to make it again!!

♥ Kim

Pink & Gray Baby Shower

2011-11-14T20:56:00.001-08:00

It has been over a year since I blogged. Having Riley really changed my priorities. He is an amazing 2 year old. And he takes up most of my time, and any extra time I do have, has been devoted to projects!! House projects, party planning, crafty stuff, I even learned to crochet!I have so much I can share. And decided that if I just keep it short and simple, that maybe I finally can again!!

So today I will start with a photo from my sisters baby shower. My cousin Liz and I planned the whole thing. Here is the sweets table.

The shower was shades of pink & grey, and inspired from a gorgeous baby blanket I crocheted. I will share more shower photos, and photos of the blanket another day. For now, it just feels good to be back.

♥ Kim

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

2010-08-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we took Riley to his VERY FIRST baseball game.

The Reno Aces were playing the Fresno Grizzlies.

We won!

We sat in the Coors Light Party Zone. It was awesome because there were lots of picnic tables, which made it easy to bring the stroller down with us. A couple other people agreed they were great seats, especially with kids, because you can spread out, walk around, and it kinda helps prevent restlessness.

Big plus, now that we have the kiddo.

A lot of people from Mitch’s work were there too. I knew a few of them, and met a few others for the first time.

Mitch drank a couple beers. Texted his buddies a bunch. And had fun socializing.

I kept saying I wanted a hot dog, but, for some reason, I never got one.

??????????

Riley was tired. The little booger didn’t take a nap that morning (of course). At least he wasn’t cranky. But he didn’t have as much fun as I had hoped, because he was kinda spaced out.

He had this look on his face a lot of the day.

And although he was pretty oblivious to the game, I think he enjoyed the change in scenery.

I made me and Riley some neck coolers, thanks to this fabulous tutorial over at Little Birdie Secrets.

Don’t we look nice and COOL?

They worked pretty good, it rained that whole week, so it was a little humid. So they didn’t work quite as well as if there had been less humidity. But they still kept us much cooler than if we hadn’t had them.

One of the security guards in our section was wearing one. She thought it was cool that me and Riley had them too.

Riley got to drink from a drinking fountain.

He did great, and LOVED it.

His work gave us a $20 gift card for every ticket we bought. So we had $40 to spend in the gift shop.

We bought Riley a baseball cap and this little guy.

Riley smiled the biggest, happiest smile when Mitch gave it to him.

Archie’s (the mascots name) giant smile must me contagious.

We had fun!

In September we plan on taking a trip to San Francisco to take Riley to his first football game. To see the 49ers play.

He’s been a HUGE fan since the day he was born, remember?

Hahaha.

It will be my first game too.

I can’t wait.

It was a good day. ♥

Izaiah's Ribbon Ball

2010-08-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

I have no picture of Zeke's ball, which was my first, and honestly I never plan on taking a picture. My pattern was off, so it is an oval ball, and the tips are kinda pointy. But he loves it. ♥

Loves it so much in fact that I got requests for Riley Lynn's ball, and Izaiah's ball.

Izaiah is Zeke's big brother. Bigger by all of 1 1/2 years. And he kept stealing his brothers ball.

So Aunt Kimmy to the rescue!!!

Here is his!

A close up of his name that I embroidered (So much easier when I do it first).

And the ribbon that inspired the colors.

Anyways, just wanted to do a quick post.

I was in California visiting my best friend for a few days. We got to hang out. I helped her make a banner for her daughter Chloe's soccer team, and I was even able to give her a sewing lesson. Yep, she actually sewed part of the banner. She is a fast learner, and did great!!!

Good Morning Kisses

2010-07-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

Riley learned how to give kisses.

His version involves him opening his mouth real wide, then pressing it against whatever he is kissing.

It is adorable.

It melts my heart every time I am the lucky recipient of his sweet kisses. Which isn't too often, because he is very stingy with them.

This morning (and a couple other mornings over the past week or two) Riley has given me kisses when he wakes up from his morning nap.

It has been on days that Mitch lets me sleep in. So I don't get to see Riley before he goes down for his nap.

When I walk into the room, he smiles real big. I pick him up, and he wraps his little arms around me and snuggles against my chest. Then he pulls away, looks at me, opens his mouth, and plants a big kiss right on my lips.

Moments like these make sleepless nights like last night so worth it. ♥

I ♥ Blue

2010-07-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

I seriously LOVE blue.

Especially turquoise blue.

I'm sure you've noticed that in Riley's nursery. In fact, you'll find it in almost every room of my house. And if you can't (since I am slooooooowly getting it all decorated) I can promise you that it WILL be there eventually.

Look, even my diaper bag is turquoise.

My beautiful dream diaper bag, that my super awesome husband let me splurge on, back when I was still pregnant with Riley. I still smile every time I use it. It was love at first sight. Hehee.

Soooo, I'm writing this post to share my pretty fabulous (at least to me) stool makeover.

A can of spray primer, followed by a can of spray paint.

It's not exactly turquoise, it's Rust-Oleum’s Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover 2x in Aqua. But it's close enough to my lovely favorite.

Then a fat quarter of fabric (Moda Authentic Numbers Black), and waaalaaa.

Pretty.

I was originally going to use a black, white and yellow colored fabric. And I still think the yellow would have been SO FUN!

But I like this print better, for this stool. And Mitch really likes the fabric, so his praises sealed the deal.

Here is the before.

I actually have four stools like this. I got them at Walmart a few years back for really cheap. I like the before. And was originally gonna keep them like this. But I recently realized that I haven't been decorating for me, like I should be. I've been too obsessed with what others would like.

I like FUN and FUNKY and COLORFUL! And now that I realize that, I am so much happier. I feel less stress about decorating, and I am actually making progress toward turning my home into a place that I seriously love.

It is freeing.

Anyways, now that I got that outta the way, here is the after.

I really like it. And so does my little Riley. When we walked downstairs after he woke up from his nap, and he seen the newly made over stool, he wouldn't stop staring. He wanted to touch it and sit in it and look at it.

Yep, desired effect achieved. :)

Linking up here:

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

Me and Riley got home late last night.

We had a fabulous visit, but it feels sooooo good to be home. Riley was beyond excited to see his daddy. He REALLY missed him.

My bestest friend is coming up from Cali to spend the fourth with us. We are going to the Chicken Wing Cook-off in downtown Reno. Then hiking tomorrow. FUN!!!

Here is picture I took of my nephew Ezekiel. He is 6 days older than Riley.

I love his little gButt. SO CUTE!

Hope you all have a FABULOUS 4th of July!

All Packed Mom

2010-06-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

Riley had fun playing in the suitcase while I got his clothes out for our trip.

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for California, to spend the week with my sister Danetta & her two little boys.

I'm all ready to go, almost everything is packed, and what isn't, will be, after momkermoo goes to bed. This is so unlike me. No rushing at the last minute.

It feels good.

Pretty Pink Ribbon Ball

2010-06-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have a little cousin that is a month older than my Riley, her name is also Riley. Out of all my friends and family who have had babies this past year, she is the only girl. So I was very excited to make something girly for a change.

Her mommy Liz loved the ribbon ball I had made at Easter for my nephew Ezekiel, so I decided to make one for her little girl.

Here it is!

As an afterthought I decided I wanted to personalize it with her name. So I used a pencil to lightly write her name on, then I just embroidered right over the pencil marks.

It was a little complicated, because I had already stuffed the ball, and didn't want to unstuff it. But I managed. I really wish I had thought if personalizing it before, instead of after. I would have avoided the puckering, and it would have looked much nicer. Oh well though, it still looks pretty good.

And Liz loves it, so I am sure Riley will too, when I give it to her next week, during my trip to California.

Two Months Old {12-Month Onesie Series}

2010-04-27T12:16:00.000-07:00

I just finished page two! (Whoo hoo, making lots of progress here, hehee.) So I thought I'd post it real quick, before I go fold and put away the piles of laundry.

Riley has been pretty clingy lately, he got his first tooth last week. And he has starting crying almost everytime me or Mitch leaves the room lately. He loves us so much! And we love him too! ♥

Anyways, laundry is calling...

One Month Old {12-Month Onesie Series}

2010-04-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

One of the blogs I read does a picture every month of her baby boys in a 12 month sized onesie. I love the idea, and am so glad I came across it in time to do it with Riley.

You can see all the pictures over there ----->

on the sidebar. We are up to month 6 right now.

I am slowly making his scrapbook (OK I just started) and decided to do a mixture of digital and paper pages, because I love both, but sometimes digital pages are just easier to squeeze in while taking care of my little man.

So here is his very first page.

Feels good to have started.

Red Bookshelves

2010-03-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

I built some bookshelves for my little turd muffins room.

I was really really tired of all his books being in boxes. Can't really read them that way. Now I finally have somewhere to put 'em all. With TONS of room to grow!

Do you like????

I built three of them. I was gonna put them all on the wall behind the door. But after hanging them, I hated the way it looked. So I took them all down, and decided to put two behind the door, and one over by Ry's crib.

SO. MUCH. BETTER.

I am gonna put big letters that spell out "READ" above the two that are behind the door.

I designed, built, painted and installed these all by myself. Besides the few cuts in the width, that the stupid Home Depot guy messed up on, they turned out exactly how I hoped!

I'm so proud of me!!!

Here are a couple detail pictures.

And here are a few where you can see some more of his room.

And a peeky in Riley's room.

I'm getting so close to finished. Eeek! I can't wait to have it ALL done, so I can share!

Me and him both LOVE to be in there!!!

Happy Birthday Dill Pickle!

2010-02-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

Today is Dylan's birthday!

He is 6.

I remember the day he was born, and can't believe he is SIX years old.

I called him to say happy birthday. He didn't really wanna talk. He wanted to play.

Oh well.

He's not a little boy anymore. And doesn't wanna do things like give his Auntie Kimmy eskimo and butterfly kisses when anyone else is around. :o(

At least he still lets me do that kind of stuff when nobody's looking. :o)

He will ALWAYS be my dill pickle! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!

Looking Back.... The First Three Months

2010-02-04T12:46:00.000-08:00

I have been a busy new mommy. And unfortunately my poor little blog has been neglected. I wanted to blog, but every time I started a post, I felt so overwhelmed. There was no time to share everything, but how on earth was I supposed to pick what to share, when I think every single thing my little man does is amazing.

So month after month passed. And now it feels like a lifetime has gone by. I'm not gonna share every detail, instead, I am gonna do a quick 3 month recap of the past three months. Then I can start blogging "without pressure" again!

So lets see....

His first month was a blur, full of love, amazement, sleeping for very small periods of time, being awake at all hours of the night, lots of crying (by both me and Ry), struggles with breastfeeding, close monitoring of weight gain, his first bath (which he hated, he screamed bloody murder the entire time, me and Mitch laughed our heads off, yeah we are mean) and lots and lots and LOTS of pictures!!!

I already miss him being so tiny. That first month is something that was so indescribable. Mitch went back to work only days after Ry was born, so it was just me. In Nevada, far far away from any friends and family. At times I remember thinking that taking care of a newborn was harder than labor (and we all remember my last post, and know how that went.)

But even though it had to be the hardest, most unbelievably exhausting month of my life. It was also the most amazing!! Looking back, I treasure every single moment.

Next we have month two!! We took our first trip to California the week before Thanksgiving. That was hard!! I was anxious to get back home to our normal routine. But it was great to see everyone. Ry got to meet lots of family and friends! Shortly after we got back home, Riley smiled for the first time!! I even caught it on camera! See?!

Then me and Ry both got sick with the cold. It was awful! I hated seeing my baby so sick. I knew he was miserable, because I was too!!

He also got to meet Santa! And watch me decorate (very little) for Christmas. He loved staring at the lights on the Christmas tree!

We spent most of the month on vacation or sick. Me and Mitch were starting to adjust to the new normal. There were less tears (from me) and lots of smiles! It was awesome watching Riley slowly become aware of the world around him.

And finally month three. I turned twenty seven. I had to throw that in there! It was quite uneventful. I got some flowers from Mitch, and spent the day with Ry.

We went back to California for Christmas. Riley laughed for the first time while we were there. It was adorable!! He got lots of presents.

He got to meet more family and friends that we didn't get to see during our November trip.

Once we got back home, he opened his presents from me and Mitch... OK, Mich opened them while holding Riley. Halfway through the month, he started really enjoying his toys. Kicking the little kicker piano to make it play music, and reaching for toys on his activity play center.

By mid January I stopped breatfeeding. I tried so hard, and wasn't producing enough milk, and Riley refused to latch on anymore. I pumped for a few weeks after that, but it was too much work for hardly any milk. So me and Mitch decided it was best if I stopped altogether. I still miss it, (or miss what it should have been) but we are way less stressed out now. So it was the right choice, as heartbreaking as it was for me at first.

Around that same time Ry slept through the night for the first time!!! And by three months old he was sleeping through the night every night. Lets hope he keeps it up!

This month also included Riley learning to turn on one of his toys! He got sick with a cold again, that lasted forever (he still has a mild cough, poor baby). We struggled with leaky cloth diapers for my skinny little guy, but after trying 4 different kinds, love the Flip diapers!! They are awesome, and I am no longer stressing out over every single diaper change.

In January I seen the biggest changes so far in my little boy! He became so aware of everything. He also developed his own little routine, and he laughs all the time! Plus, I became a morning person (CRAZY!!!) Here's some pictures of month three.

Anyways now I'm as caught up as I'm gonna get. We're working on month four, and I'll really try to make an effort to share more, so I don't get behind again. Plus I finally have time to do projects again! So of course I can't wait to share those as well.

Yay, I'm happy to be back... I've missed this!

Labor and Delivery

2009-11-11T10:55:00.000-08:00

It has taken me several weeks {my new little guy is quite demanding} but I am finally going to share my birth story. I'm gonna split it up into several posts... and of course I'm gonna start with labor and delivery!!!

And I'll warn you right now, this is gonna be a LOOOOOOONG post. And there won't be any pictures until the end. Don't say I didn't warn you! :o)

It all started on October 16th. Mitch was at work {he works graveyards}, and I was tired but kept putting off going to bed. I finally went to bed at midnight after sitting in Riley's nursery for about an hour.

I was sleeping peacefully {for an entire hour and fifty minutes} when I woke up at 1:50 in the morning. I felt a sharp twinge, and actually said ouch as I sat up in bed. I felt a little damp, and was making my way to the bathroom, when the dampness turned into me being SOAKED!

I just kept thinking OH MY GOD, my water just broke. All my sisters had their water break at the hospital after hours of contractions with all 6 of my nieces and nephews, and my water had just broke in the middle of the night before a single contraction.

I just kept saying oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, over and over again, as I grabbed a towel, wrapped it around me like a diaper, and wobbled downstairs to grab the phone and call Mitch.

It felt so weird to say "babes, my water just broke". He said he would be right home. He called me again as he sped 90 mph to get home. He wanted to see if anything had happened in the five minutes since he had talked to me last. :o)

I called my best friend Andrea, and told her it was time. She was coming from California, and had a three hour drive ahead of her. Then I tried calling my mom, who had her phone off.... OFF!!! I left her a couple messages.

I was shaking so badly. I wanted Mitch to get home. And I decided to take a shower while waiting for him. About 5 minutes into my shower {which was about 10 minutes after my water broke} the contractions started. They were immediately 4 to 5 minutes apart.

I was still in the shower when Mitch got home, which freaked him out. He didn't think I should be showering while in labor, but I was covered in amniotic fluid, and felt gross, so I didn't care what he thought.

He was totally freaking out, asking what needed to be done. The funny thing is, that I had made sure everything was completely packed, sitting by the front door and ready to go the night before. So he had everything loaded into the car, and was frantically pacing before I wad even ready to go.

Hello.... I had to put lotion on after my shower. Have you ever tried to put lotion on while leaking and having contractions every few minutes???? Not all that easy.

I was calm by then. As we drove to the hospital, Mitch kept freaking out, and I was calming him down.

We checked in at the hospital exactly one hour after my water broke. The contractions were starting to get more intense by then. I had to use my breathing exercises pretty much from the beginning.

They had me change into a gown, hooked up an IV line, strapped on the baby monitor stuff and then they checked me.

I was 100% effaced, but only dilated to 1 cm. SERIOUSLY?????

It was gonna be a long labor, and since my water broke already, I was not allowed to walk around. Grrrrrrr.

The contractions were getting worse. Mitch kept asking what he could do. Did I want my laptop? NO! What about a massage? NO! My heating pad? NOT NOW! Did I wanna play with his iPhone? NO! How about some TV? NO! I'll get you your ipod. NO!

I didn't want ANY of my "comfort" things I had brought with me. I just wanted Mitch to sit next to me.

The hospital had a birthing ball, which I thought I would want {I really loved mine my whole pregnancy} but about 15 minutes into using it, I threw it on the floor. Then I decided to give the heating pad I had brought a try. 5 minutes later, I was telling Mitch to get the stupid thing off of me.

Nothing was making me feel any better.

Then things got worse. Nobody ever told me about the shaking and the vomiting. It was horrible, and not something I was expecting.

The doctor on call finally came in around 5 am. He told me that my doctor would be there in the morning around 9 o'clock. And I would still be in the early parts of labor, because first time mothers typically have on average 12-15 hours of labor. So I still had a LONG ways to go.

Yeah, he seriously said that to me!!! I already know all this stuff, and yet he finds it necessary to remind me??? SERIOUSLY!? I wanted to throw something at him!!!

My contractions were about 2 to 3 minutes apart by then, and lasting at least 1 minute each. They were very intense and I was on the verge of asking for drugs, even though I went in there determined to do it naturally.

That determination went straight out the door by 6 am. They gave me something in my IV. I'm not sure what it was, but when Andrea got there a few minutes later I was relaxed and lightheaded. Even smiling.

Yeah, that lasted a whole 15 minutes. Then the pain was back full force. How could it be this bad so early on??? I didn't know how much more I could take.

They finally checked me again around 7 am. Two different nurses checked me three times!!!! They couldn't believe I was dilated to 6 cm already.

Things got really intense, and though I didn't think it was possible, I got even shakier. The contractions were so painful, and I squeezed Mitch's hand and the bed rail VERY tightly for every one.

Andi kept laughing at the terrified look on Mitch's face. This picture is her trying to capture that look!

I wanted to sit up, and the nurse kept making me lay down. It made the contractions soooooo much worse. But they weren't picking up the baby's heartbeat when I sat up. So they decided to attach an internal monitor to the top of the baby's head.

I got one more dose of drugs, which didn't do a thing. And was ready to cave again and get an epidural, when they checked me again. I was 10 cm!! I went from 6 to 10 in ONE hour! It was time to push.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!!

Pushing was awful! OK, I'm sure nobody who has gone through it will say it was anything but awful, but seriously, I was so ready for it all to be over!

I peed while pushing {no poop, although honestly I would NOT have been even the tiniest bit embarrassed, I had it all hanging out, and didn't care AT ALL who seen me, or what kind of funky noises I was making} so the nurse had to insert a catheter to empty my bladder.

I freaked out, I've had one of those before, and they hurt. She said she would do it during a contraction, so I wouldn't even notice. SHE WAS WRONG!!! Later Mitch and Andrea said that was the loudest I screamed, they thought I was gonna go through the roof.

Andrea and her 5 month old son Parker were there for the whole thing, even though I swore Mitch would be the only one in the room with me for delivery. When the time came, I really didn't care who was there.

I had to count to ten for every push. At one point Andi decided to count with me, hahaha, BAD idea. That was one of the only times I snapped. I was already counting in my head, and she started counting very slowly when I was already at four. It was quite distracting, and I screamed at her to SHUT UP!!!!

She went and hid in the corner, scared I was gonna kick her out after that, lol!

I think I might have scared any women in the rooms next to me. I pushed and pushed and let out a scream after each one.

I had an oxygen mask on, and I wanted it off, and I remember I was very thirsty, and kept asking Mitch for water.

I pushed for an hour and a half. I thought it was never gonna end. But at 9:52am, Riley was born!

Eight hours!! That is how long my labor was!!! Nobody was expecting me to delivery him until later that afternoon or evening. I think I shocked everyone with how quick my labor was. Although I will say that when you are the one going through it, 8 hours still feels long, lol!

Mitch was all into the gory stuff that I thought was gonna gross him out. He kept checking out the head as it was crowning, and he was excited to cut the umbilical cord. Check him out!!!

The nurse almost took him, but my doctor told her to give him to mommy. This is the first time I held my little boy!

A few minutes later they took him to weigh him and stuff. I heard Mitch say he was 6 lbs 7 1/2 oz. I was contracting and in the process of delivering the placenta, but when I heard that I perked right up, asking the nurse what he weighed, because I didn't believe Mitch. He was right!! I looked over at Andi, and was sooo happy! Everyone was wrong, and I WAS RIGHT!!! All the people that said my belly was huge, and my baby was gonna be a BIG baby were wrong. Haha! I knew my tummy size had nothing to do with how big Riley was, and am still quite happy to prove those people wrong!!! :o)

He was 19 1/2 inches long, and his apgar score was 9/9. Yay, healthy baby!!!

They wrapped Riley up, and gave him back to me. He was making the funniest little growling noise. Everyone was laughing. I starting crying, {I was cramping really badly, and wanted to curl up, but I tore, and the doctor was stitching me up} when Riley heard my cries, he stopped and just stared at me. It was the sweetest thing ever!

Me and Mitch are mommy and daddy now, so weird!

Riley Conner Young

2009-10-27T13:46:00.000-07:00

This is my 100th post!!!

And to celebrate, I'd like to introduce you to my new baby boy!

Riley Conner Young

He was born October 16th, 2009 at 9:52am.
He weighed 6 lbs 7 1/2 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Almost all of my time is devoted to this little guy, but I am slowly working on getting all my pictures organized {there are lots} so I can share his birth story!

I can't believe my little boy is finally here! I love him so much already.

Pick me!

2009-10-09T11:46:00.001-07:00

Kim over at Today's Creative Blog is giving away a FREE 20x24 Stand Out Mounted Print by Color Incorporated Pro Lab. It a $50 value! She picks a winner on Sunday! Go check it out!!! :o)

Belly Shots {37 Weeks}

2009-10-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Full Term.

At 37 weeks I am officially full term.

It's kinda weird, suddenly all the "doctors orders" have changed.

Everything that was bad before 37 weeks, is now considered good. Like contractions. Those are a good thing now. YUCK! They are no longer a horrible sign that could mean a premature baby. Now they are very normal {although painful and uncomfortable} signs of labor.

And labor is a good thing now. Although in my case {no matter how terribly sick I am of being pregnant} I really want him to stay in there for a few more weeks.

And my doctor says things like "Everything looks great Kim, we'll see you next week... if your still pregnant then."

Weird.

I was beginning to think {as was Mitcheal} that I was not going to get around to taking another belly shot picture of me {and us}.

I really haven't been in the mood to take any pictures. And you know Mitch is NEVER in the mood to take these pictures with me, which is why I was shocked that he hounded me about it so much.

But yesterday I just did it!!! I got out the damn tripod, and we took the pictures.

All done.

I wanna get all the ones we took together, maybe make them black and white, and edit them some, and frame them in colorful frames for Riley's room. There are 5 total, from 13 weeks to 37 weeks. I think they'll look nice framed in there. We did a different pose together every time. And even though Mitch threw a big fit every time we took the pictures, I'm REALLY glad we did the "us" pictures along with the "me" pictures. When all is said and done, they are something that I really like having. And I think he does too!!

Anyways, here they are.

Me....

And us.

And since they are the last ones, I thought I'd throw in a couple other ones that I liked.

Including one where I'm actually looking at the camera!

So that's it. Babes is up, so maybe I'll see if he wants to detail the car today. So we can install the car seat.

Colorful Baby Shower

2009-09-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last month was my baby shower!!! And of course little creative me planned the whole thing. I know, I know, I'm NOT SUPPOSED TO plan my own shower. But I really really wanted to make the invitations and do the decorations and deserts.

We officially said that my mom and mother in law threw it for me, because we had it at moms house in California, and Mitch's mom {Connie} made all the yummy Mexican food {I REALLY wanted Mexican food, and it was DELICIOUS!}

So this post is going to be all about the colorful and fun stuff I did for the shower.... the pictures of me opening presents, guests, and other fun shower pics will come later!

Here is the invitation!!!

Notice that I used fabric that matches my crib skirt??? I really like that fabric! :o)

I made guest packets for everyone! They included a predictions page, "finish the nursery rhyme" game, an envelope for guests to self address, a pen, and a mini scrapbook paper covered clothespin for the "don't say baby" game.

Here is a closeup of the "predictions" page. Everyone wrote a little message to our family in the 3 circles, and filled out their guesses. Each guest had a different color page in their packet, and I'm going to put them all in a mini album.

I think it will be fun to see who came the closet to guessing correctly, and it will make a wonderful keepsake!

Here's a bunch of the decorations!!!

These bottles were gifts for my guests.

I saved a bunch of Mitch's Newcastle beer bottles. removed the labels, soaked them for several hours and got them REALLY clean. Then I spray painted the bottlecaps turquoise blue. I made cute little labels for them, and after running them through my xyron machine, I stuck them to the bottles, and filled them with Skittles.

They each have one BIG bag of Skittles in them. Yes, I know, that is A LOT of Skittles!!! Everyone loved them though! :o)

I made 20 tissue paper pompoms. I love these things!!!

The rest of the pictures are of YUMMY deserts!!!

I made the cupcake wrappers, and toppers. And I showed my little sister Danetta how to make the marshmallow pops, and she did those for me!! Oh and of course this super Easy Lemon Cream Pie!!! MMMM.

Anyways, that's everything!!! I had fun planning it all, and had a blast spending time with my family and friends!

35 Weeks!

2009-09-18T04:50:00.000-07:00

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant!!!

That means I have only 5 more weeks until my due date.

That is barely over a month. Yeah, I'm having an oh my goodness, heart racing, totally freaking out moment!

He could come as soon as right now, to at the MOST 7 weeks from now. I've been wrapped up in absolutely nothing but shopping for him the past 2 days. My list of things I need is getting shorter and shorter.

I am sooooooo beyond excited. Me and Mitch have been through so much pain and loss trying to bring this child into the world, and it seems unreal that in a few short weeks we will finally be parents. I really don't think it's gonna sink in until he is in our arms.

My house has become overrun with baby stuff, in every room. But it's just stuff. The baby is still inside my belly. Kicking, pushing, hiccuping, squirming around. Making sure his poor mommy {that'd be meeeeeee} is inflicted with every possible uncomfortable, sometimes painful, and occasionally yucky pregnancy symptom imaginable. Seriously! But you know what? It's all worth it. I cried the other day thinking about how worth it it really is.

We are taking a 6 week childbirth education class. And last week {week 2} we had to bring along something to use as a focal point during our breathing exercises.

I stressed out the whole week over what I was gonna bring. You really have to understand, I am the kinda person that analyzes every little detail. Everything has to have a story, has to have meaning, has to be perfect. Ordinary won't do. I like handmade, custom, personalized, unique... the list goes on and on.

Everything I thought of bringing was immediately shot down by myself, of course. It was all unmeaningful. How were those items going to help me during my labor??? Then I realized what would help me.

Remembering that it is worth it. Not forgetting that it is my little Riley that will be causing all the labor pain. That sounds kinda bad, but I have been through a lot of pain, both physical and emotional with my miscarriages. And I remember thinking as I was crying and screaming into the pillow, trying not to wake Mitch up, that it was all for nothing. It was hours of excruciating pain, and what I had when it was all over, wasn't a baby, it was nothing. The pain and emptiness I felt was unlike anything I have ever experienced before.

I took months to heal. My second miscarriage wasn't nearly as hard as my first. It was very early, only a week after I had found out I was expecting again. But it made me feel twice as hopeless. Was I ever going to be a mommy?? It really didn't feel like it, and nobody in my life understood. They couldn't. The only ones who I could talk to were the few bloggy friends who were going through the same thing. It was hard.

Do you get what I meant now, when I said that Riley will be causing me all the pain? It is a good thing, because focusing on that fact, remembering that I have been through similar pain, that was all for nothing, and that this time I will have him {my little boy} when it is all over. Instead of feeling empty and hopeless, I will be full of more love than I can even imagine.

I made a necklace after my first miscarriage. It has a tag with my due date, and a butterfly with the birthstone from that month in it. It is my way of remembering my first child that I never got a chance to hold, but that I loved very much.

That necklace and a framed ultrasound picture of little Riley are my focal point items. They represent everything I just wrote here. They help me remember that it is all worth it. That I can handle whatever pain that comes, now and later. Because it's all for him. I love him so much.

$1.00 Shelf Makeover

2009-09-09T19:23:00.001-07:00

While Mitch and myself were out yardsaling one Sunday morning a couple months back, we ran across this shelf that I really liked. There was nobody outside to help us, and nothing was priced. Frustrated, we left. But I whined and whined about how I really liked the circle shelf, and thought it would look cute in Riley's room {after some altering of course.}

So, Mitch turned around, went and knocked at the door, and got the son to come out and help him. I told Mitch not to spend more than $10 for the thing, and a few minutes later, he was hauling it to our car, after having paid only $1.00 for it!

I was quite happy. Mitch was annoyed that we had another "piece of junk" that I was "planning" to re-do.

I didn't get to it right away like I planned. But over the past few months I {or sometimes we} have refinished every piece of furniture I have bought for that purpose.

Now Mitch finally not only has faith in my ability to finish a furniture project, but he is also impressed with the results, and is more willing to let me shop for future projects!!! YAY!

Wanna see my shelf before and after??

WaaaLaaaaa!

And here is a closer BEFORE....

And AFTER...

I took the whole thing apart and sanded it down pretty good.

Then I spray primed all the pieces once, followed by two coats of Rust-Oleum Green Apple.

The tops were really water damaged.... and since the circle pieces are all laminate, the water damage created raised bubbly areas, and there was NO WAY I was spending that much sanding time in the hope of creating a smooth surface.

So I did the next best thing {which turned out to be a better idea than painting the whole thing} MOD PODGE!!!

I wanted to use products I had at home already. So I found some pale yellow fabric. And used the regular Matte Mod Podge to glue it on.

But I didn't like just the plain yellow with the green, it was kinda boring, and actually looked a bit dirty. So after brainstorming FOREVER, I cut out circles from some orange paper I had.

I arranged them in a way I liked, and Mod Podged them over the fabric. After I finished one shelf, I was VERY happy with the results. So I cut out enough circles for the whole thing... 19 for each shelf, 5 shelves total, that's 95 orange circles I glued on. NINETY FIVE!!!! WAY more work than I planned on doing. And I coulda got the same effect from polka dot fabric, if I'd taken the time to search for some I liked. But I saved money this way, and in the end it was worth it!

I went through an entire bottle of Mod Podge. I believe each shelf got 4 coats. Then I applied 2 coats of Plaid Patricia Nimocks Clear Acrylic Sealer in Gloss.

After it was dry, I put it back together, and smiled lots, because I LOVE the final results!!! It looks awesome in Riley's room, and now I have a spot to put my water, that's within reaching distance from my chair. Which will really come in handy for the hours I'm gonna spend nursing and stuff in the very near future {about 6 more weeks!}

Here's one more picture before I go! :o)

Hope you like my $1.00 shelf re-do!!

Riley's Dresser Makeover

2009-08-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

One of my MANY projects I've been working on is this dresser for Riley's room. It was a very ugly thing with broken drawers. It was in his closet when we moved in. Mitch wanted to trash it. But I moved it to our room, and used it for a few months. I figured it'd do until we could afford to buy a new dresser.

Well, after getting Riley's crib and chair/ottoman, and arranging everything, I decided I wanted the dresser in his room, I had the perfect spot for it.

Mitch still looked at me like I was nuts! It's laminate, and according to him, junk!

But I found a few tutorials for painting laminate, and had recently gotten a free quart of True Turquoise Glidden paint, that'd be a perfect match for his room colors. So I thought why not???

I bought some zinsser BIN primer, and after I sanded it with my new palm sander, I had Mitch prime it for me.

Then after lightly sanding his priming job, it was ready for my two coats of paint, followed by brand new handles that we had picked out. I had other handles that were wavy that I liked better. But I woulda had to fill the holes, and drill new ones, plus they were a few dollars more a piece. So Mitch convinced me these ones would work, and I like them.

Here is the BEFORE picture!

Once we were done we carried it upstairs, and put the drawers back in.

And here is the AFTER picture!!

These last two pictures actually show the color blue more accurately. In this one you can see the handles up close!

And here you can catch a peek of one of the 3 circle rugs {orange, dark blue, and apple green} and a little bit of the crib.

I can't wait to have the room all decorated and show you how great it looks next to everything else.

That dresser and painting the room were two big projects that I am glad to have done!!! Now I gotta find a low dresser that we can refinish to match, that will double as a changing table. It's gonna go under the window.... which needs curtains still.

Tomorrow I will probably be refinishing this $1 shelf I fell in love with at a yardsale. It will be apple green.... and match the frame on my bulletin board, which I will show you soon! I promise!!!

The grand total I spent for this dresser was about $35!
Dresser - FREE
Paint - FREE {shipped to me by Glidden for a promo they were having last month}
Primer - $10.98
Handles - $3.97 a piece x 6 = $23.82

Mitch is actually quite impressed with the finished result! He no longer thinks it is a piece of junk, and is actually getting a little jealous that Riley is going to {at least for now} have a nicer room than us, lol!

And for that price, I absolutely LOVE it! :o)

Belly Shots {30 Weeks}

2009-08-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

Hi!!!!!!

I missed last month belly shots. So I have NONE {zero, zilch, nothing} for 6 months, so so sad!!!

Oh well. Here is 30 weeks {aka 7 months}.

I painted the nursery, and re-finished a dresser {for Riley's nursery of course!} I had my baby shower, made a darling bulletin board, shopped, and more! Plus I finally got a new camera!!!

So I'll be posting pictures and stuff soon. But I wanted to quickly get this posted, since tomorrow I will be 31 weeks! I am getting so close!!! :o)

Presents for Baby Ezekiel

2009-07-31T18:05:00.001-07:00

I've mentioned before that one of my little sisters Danetta is pregnant as well. Her due date is 5 days before mine, and she is also having a boy.

Her and her hubby Jordan are naming their son Ezekiel. They had their baby shower last Sunday. I got to go to California {just for 24 hours, cause Mitch had to work the day before and the day after.}

I got her a gift card,
but also had to make her some handmade stuff as well!!

This is a picture of the nursery bedding she is getting. Although her furniture will be a darker espresso brown.

They wanted books instead of cards. So of course I had to make a little book. It's a 4x4 inch counting book. Those buttons seriously took FOREVER to do!!! All 59 of them!

Here is the front.

Inside.

And back.

I signed it on the back, so he'd never forget it was Aunt Kimmy who taught him how to count in style, hehe!!!

I wanted to make her a decorative magnet board, and originally was gonna use a cookie sheet. But one day at the thrift store I ran across this, and at $1.99, it was perfect!

I sanded the shiny teflon finish off, drilled two holes, spray painted it espresso brown, added pretty scrapbook papers and a monogram, and finished it off with a textured Mod Podge finish and some matching ribbon.

And Tadaaaa!

In the next two pictures you can see the textured finish.

The reason I wanted a magnet board is because I made some bottlecap magnets. I also decorated an adorable keepsake tin to store them in. I figure once she takes the magnets out, the tin can store precious keepsake things, like a lock of hair and a tooth.

Here is the set together.

Here is the tin before:

And after:

And here are the bottle caps before:

And after:

I took my husbands bad habits, and turned them into something cute! And at no extra cost!!!

Anyways, she just loved everything! I got a little embarrassed at the shower when she made a BIG deal outta my present, and it was the only one that got passed around.

I have some pictures of the shower, and my trip to Cali. I'll share them in a separate post, since this one is so long already!

MIA

2009-07-30T02:13:00.001-07:00

I know I haven't been around, AT ALL! My sister got me into Sorority Life on Facebook, and I've become slightly obsessed. And I've also been busy.

I went to Cali for the same sisters baby shower. I made her {and baby Ezekiel} a bunch of cute stuff. I took pictures, so I promise I'll share. I had my best friend and also my cousin come up from Cali for a visit. I re finished a vanity. And me and Mitch painted our living room. I've taken lotsa pictures of my projects and stuff, and promise to share them all soon!

I promise I haven't forgotten all of my wonderful bloggy friends. Me and Riley are good!!! He is kicking lots and really hard now too. I start my 3rd trimester tomorrow!!! And my baby shower is next weekend. So it may still be just a little while longer before I give this blog and all my bloggy friends the love and attention they deserve. But I will be back! :o)

Riley's Bedding!!!

2009-07-04T13:31:00.000-07:00

Today I finally finished Riley's crib bedding!!! It really didn't take me that long at all. I just slacked off, got preoccupied, or was busy some parts of some days!

But today I was determined to finish it, so I could share pictures with you all!!!

I know I said I wasn't gonna share until I got my mattress, so you can get the full effect with the crib sheet and all. But I changed my mind! I don't want you to have to wait until the end of the month!!! Heck, I can't wait till the end of the month to share! Lol!!!

So keep in mind that it'll look a little different {the bumpers will be higher, and you'll see several inches of the turquoise sheet covered mattress in between the skirt and bumpers.} But you'll still get the overall effect today!!! :o)

WaaaaLaaaaa!!!!

And a closer view!

First time ever doing a reverse applique monogram. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty dang proud of myself!!

Inside the crib.

And a picture of the sheet, to help you visualize what it'll look like in a month!!

So, that's it!!! I am SUPER happy with the way it turned out! I just sit in there and stare at my finished work.

Now I gotta get started on my shower invitations {because of course I'm the only creative one in my family, and can't stand the thought of store bought ones!!}

Then, more decorating of the nursery!!!

Fathers Day Card and Gift Box

2009-06-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

For Fathers Day, I made my father in law Dennis a fish card and box. And then we went to Scheels and filled the box with his favorite lures and a jar of colorful bait.

Connie says he looks forward to my handmade cards every year. And about a week before Fathers Day Mitch started bugging me every single day to make his dads card.

I remembered saving a tutorial for a cute folded box from Martha at So Lovely Creations. And knew I wanted to finally try it out. Once the box was done, making a matching card was easy!

Here is the set.

Here is the outside of the card.
You can't really tell {because I forgot to take good pictures, and had to quickly snap these before handing the stuff off to Connie to bring home} but I used a glaze on the fish, and he's shiny and cool looking. Then I popped him out from the card.

The inside is stamped and simple. I used alphabet stamps, and parts of two other stamps that said some other holiday sentiment.

Then I lined the envelope with matching paper.

I really like my box. It looks way better in person.

And you can't really tell {again} but the scalloped circle that says "DAD" is popped up from the box as well.

Don't forget, if you wanna make your own box, the instructions are here! It was super easy!!! Thanks Martha! :o)

My crib fabric has arrived!

2009-06-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

I am very happy!!! My mother in law brought my crib up to me! Which her and my FIL ended up buying {she gave me back my check I wrote them.} And I put it together Monday night! It was super easy!!!

She is also getting my mattress. She has one picked out, but Ikea was out of stock. So that will come later.

But I totally LOVE my crib!!!!

And today, my fabric order finally got here!!! I am so happy! I can start on the bedding this week.

Check it out!!!

The turquoise blue flannel is for the crib sheet. The green stripe is for the crib skirt. The orange polka dot, yellow polka dot and lime green are for the bumper pads, and the red is for piping on the bumper pads, and possibly a 1 1/2 to 2 inch trim on the crib skirt.

I guess you have to be in my head to understand exactly what I'm doing. But I held the fabrics up against the crib, and they all look amazing!! It is so fun and colorful. I can't wait to finish and show you.

But you will have to wait until I get my mattress to see the final result. Yeah, sucks, huh???

Anyhoodle, I have other fabrics I've bought {or already had} as well for the daybed, pillows, curtains, and stuff. But you don't get to see them yet!

Four more months to go!!!!

Belly Shots {22 Weeks}

2009-06-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

I have seriously been neglecting my blog! I'm SOOOO sorry! I have been busy cleaning, organizing, decorating, and crafting. And I have NO plans whatsoever to stop. I have so much to do before Riley gets here. But I will try to share what I'm doing a little more!!! :o)

I even slacked off on taking my belly shot. It's 2 weeks late. OOPS!!! But I got it in under the 5 month mark. So my plan to take one every month is still in tact.

Here is 22 Weeks!!!!!

I am totally getting bigger. I'm MORE than halfway there.

Our little guy has been quite active the past few days. And Daddy finally got to feel him kick this morning. A bunch of times! He has been asking me "when??" everyday. And patiently putting his hand on my belly, hoping the little guy will cooperate. Mitch wasn't home last night when Riley was doing his thing. And I was bummed, because I just knew it would finally be strong enough to be felt on the outside too.

So this morning when I was telling Mitch about it, he started up again. I told him to just rest his hand there, and wait. He didn't feel the first two movements. But then on the third one, he looked at me before I said anything, and told me that he felt him!!! He was right. Then the little boy went crazy with the acrobatics.

He really made mommy and daddy smile today! :o)

Nursery Cokamo

2009-06-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

OK, so I announced that we are having a boy {according to the ultrasound}. But even before then I had decided to do a bright colored gender neutral nursery. So boy or girl, this is my nursery inspiration board.

1. I searched and searched for a perfect growth chart, and I totally LOVE this Frog Growth Chart from Stephen Joseph Gifts.

2. I found an adorable piggy bank at a local shop very similar to this Piggy Bank from Elegant Baby.

3. You gotta love these Land of Nod Pack your bags Mini Suitcases, you can mix and match and stack them in any combination you want!

4. I wish I was still able to buy this Spectrum Chandelier from Urban Outfitters, it is totally my inspiration for all the colors I decided to use in this room, and it was a great price. But it isn't available any more. So I was thinking of buying supplies and crafting something similar myself, we'll see what I come up with.

5. This Ikea Barnslig Rund Rug will be perfect under a small round table or cute floor lamp, lotsa ideas!!!

6. I also want this Ikea Barnslig Prickar Rug, WAY CUTE, and way affordable!

7. Ever since I first visited Kim Wheelers blog, I knew that once I got pregnant I'd have to order a personalized Small Words painting from her, I LOVE LOVE LOVE her work!!!

8. Yeppers, I plan on buying this Hermelin Crib from Ikea. I really really like it! And am gonna make my own bedding for it. I'll post fabric samples soon!

9. I gotta get a FUN lamp like this Art Deco Table Lamp from Target.

10. I've always loved moose, well at least the cute toy ones! This Ekorre Rocking Moose from Ikea is so much more adorable than a regular ol' rocking horse {at least in my opinion.}

11. I think I have a new love for Ikea, their PS Fangst Hanging Storage would be perfect in my nursery!

12. This Number Print from Modern Pop is so FUN!

So that's that! My mother in law is supposed to pick up my crib this month, since I don't have an Ikea here in Reno. This is the third crib I've picked out, because the other two were discontinued and sold out before I had a chance to buy them. It worked out, because I really like this one a lot, but I don't wanna miss out on getting it, especially with my track record so far!

I'll make a trip to California either this month, or definitely in July and pick it up from her. Then I'll go from there. I can't wait to decorate. I can't wait to see my finished nursery. And I especially can't wait to hold my baby boy in my arms, and for him to enjoy his fun happy room I'm gonna create for him! I love him sooooo much already!

It's a........

2009-06-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

So, you Facebook pals of mine already know, and for everybody else, I am sorry I didn't post yesterday as promised. I was SOOOOO tired. I went to bed very very early. And didn't scan the ultrasound pics into the computer until this morning.

But I didn't wanna make you wait any longer, so I marched my butt upstairs a few minutes ago, and scanned away!

Here they are!!!

Oh, and in case you didn't figure it out,

IT'S A BOY!!!

Our little Riley Conner Young. He was VERY cooperative during the ultrasound. The tech said so herself. I layed there just smiling at the big screen TV on the wall, watching him inside my tummy. He is healthy and perfect!!! Our official estimated due date is October 23rd. I'm just about halfway there!!!

My First Baby Purchase

2009-05-31T01:05:00.001-07:00

So today I made my very first purchase for baby Cokamo.

And in case you're thinking huh??

Baby Cokamo??

That's my nickname for the little booger. Tomorrow I possibly find out the sex, so in the meantime, and even after, in case the doctor is wrong {gasp} I have something to call the baby.

The middle names I have picked out are Conner for a boy and Kayleigh for a girl. Put the first 2 letters of both names together and you've got CoKa. And one day, Cokamo just came naturally outta that.

Mitch totally laughs, and says I can't call the baby that after it's born. But he's slowly caving, and has even used it a few times, hehehe!

Anyhoodle, back to my purchase, I fell in love with this blanket lovie I seen on Etsy!

I bought it here: Rocko and Addie.

It has monkeys {love em!} And it is my favorite colors. The colors will totally match some of the colors in my nursery. Which you'll see soon, cause I'm working on an inspiration board for my bright, colorful, fun, gender neutral nursery!!! Eek, I am beyond excited!

Yesterday I picked out a bunch of fabric for the nursery. I plan on making my own crib bedding. And having a daybed in there, so I can coordinate the bedding on both. Plus make lotsa pillows and matching curtains.

I have so many ideas, and can't wait to share them with you all!

Make sure you come back Monday afternoon! I'll be posting new ultrasound pics, and as long as little Cokamo cooperates, I'll be announcing the gender!

Time Out Bench

2009-05-29T01:39:00.000-07:00

Mitch bought this little {really little, it only goes to my knee} bench from our neighbors yard sale for $1. It was adorable and ugly all rolled into one. The bench itself was super cute, but the colors were ugly. See????

So I pondered what to do with it. Paint it??? Stain it?? Where will it go? I finally decided that I wanted it downstairs in my living room area. Where I could keep an eye on the naughty child that would one day sit in it.

So, I sanded it down, and used the same stain I had used on the desk that I redid last year. Then I painted the letters blue, and decoupaged very subtle blue scrapbook paper onto the front of them.

And voila! Much prettier time out bench, that perfectly matches my living room!!!

Here's some "during" pictures. I took it apart and sanded it down.

Then I had to have Mitch help, because stain and polyurethane are BAD to use when pregnant, and I wasn't taking any chances with this little baby of mine!

Here's a couple more angle shots of the little bench.

I really like it. And my nephew Dylan likes sitting in it, even though he know it's where you go when you're bad. He just makes sure that we are all aware that he is not being punished, and is sitting there by choice, lol!

Falling Down the Stairs

2009-05-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

So, I told you all I fell down the stairs. Me and my little Cokamo are OK. But I still wanted to share my story, since I took pictures and everything.

So, quick version of the days events... I woke up, I walked halfway down my stairs, and fell the second half. I caught my leg up behind me, and bruised my leg, and my butt. Ouchie. It really hurt, I cried.

When I called my doctor, they told me to go to the ER, since it was the weekend {of course} just to be safe.

I felt so silly. I knew we were OK. Just a bit sore. But I still had to spend a few hours at the hospital. I got out my camera, and me and Mitch took some pictures for my blog!!!

Here I am, gown and all!!! That thing was huge and confusing, and the nurse had to help me put it on, because I couldn't figure it out for the life of me.

I looked too happy for a hospital visit in that first picture, so I took a "fake sad" picture.

Me sooooooo sad.... sad that I was forced to go to the hospital after my clumsy ass fell down the freakin' stairs!!!

No hospital visit is complete without a bracelet.

And of course we have crabby Mitcheal in the corner. He got really cranky when I told him that we had make a trip to the ER.

Really cranky!!!

Then he told me I was not allowed to sleep upstairs anymore. Oh, and when I fell, he asked me if I was able to see my feet still, because if I was in fact still able to see them, then why was I falling down??

Ummmm, hello husband of mine, this is my first trip down the stairs, you yourself have made 2 {yes TWO} trips down the stairs in the past year. At least I have an excuse, it is called pregnant clumsiness. What about you my dear?

Anyhoo, I now hold on to the railing to prevent future incidents like this one.

Belly Shots {16 Weeks}

2009-05-12T17:29:00.000-07:00

I am super duper tired. My two latest pregnancy symptoms are {1} I've become a very light sleeper, if I can sleep at all, and {2} I'm itchy, really really itchy, all over, but especially my tummy.

And of course I still have much of the others. I'm gassy, I pee A LOT, I'm hormonal and get upset easily, I'm always hungry {California rolls at the sushi bar in the Atlantis are the yummiest} my sciatic nerve has become my worst enemy, and I'm clumsy, like falling down the stairs clumsy {which I did do last week, and got to take a fun trip to the ER, I'll tell you more in a later post, don't worry, I'm OK}.

But in fabulous news, my nausea is GONE, all gone!!! WooHOO!!! And my boobies aren't quite as sore, plus I finally got Mitch to admit yesterday that they have grown! Too bad they won't stay grown!!

So , before you think I forgot, here is my latest belly shots.

16 Weeks!!!

And here I once again got "Daddy to be" participation! Hehe, I LOVE it!

Anywhoo, I decided against weekly belly pictures {did I mention that already?} And opted instead for one every 3 or 4 weeks. So the next one will be at 20 weeks! The halfway point! YeeHAW!

Before I go, I wanted to say that I've been waiting to feel the baby move. And everyday I wonder if what I'm feeling in my tummy is the baby or something else. Well, yesterday while watching House with Mitch, I felt a movement slightly to my right side, right where the baby would be, and I just knew. There was no question. I reached down and touched the spot, and smiled. It was so natural. I love the little booger so much already.

Mothers Day Cards

2009-05-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to do a quick post showing the cards I made for my mom and mom in law. I totally need a new camera, and have one picked out, that I plan to get this month. Oh and I took the pics at night, so I could get the cards shipped out and to them before Mothers Day! So the pics aren't fabulous, oh well, enjoy!!! :o)

This one I made for my mommy!

And this one I made for Connie {Mitch's mom}.

Anyhoodle, that's all! I've been unpacking the final boxes that I never got to after our move, due to months of morning sickness. And cleaning, cleaning, cleaning! I am almost done. And then I am gonna turn my attention to my studio, it is a disaster up here!!!

Right now I'm gonna go drag Mitcheal outta bed so he can see what in the world the birds are doing on my roof. They are LOUD, and have been at it all day long, seriously, they started at 5 a.m. Which of course meant no sleep for me! Or at least bad sleep. Between them and Mitcheal's LOUD snoring it's a wonder I get any sleep at all! And this pregnancy had turned me into an extremely light sleeper, I HATE IT!!! Not the pregnancy, just the newly acquired sleeping problems. Not fun!

But the baby is growing every day! It feels so weird. I'm not positive if I'm feeling the baby move yet, but I am definitely, constantly aware of stuff going on in this tummy of mine! :o)

Week 13 Ultrasound!

2009-05-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

I am seriously LATE in posting my week 13 ultrasound pictures! {Considering that I'm now 15, almost 16 weeks along!} My little sister, who is due within a week of myself, keeps bugging me to post them, but the whole scanning, cropping, editing, uploading, posting.... seemed like a pain in the butt, so I kept putting it off.

Well Danetta, here is your little niece or nephew. {Anybody wanna take a guess at what it's gonna be, I have a poll on my sidebar, see??? Right over there ------>}

Anyhoodle, without further ado, here is the little booger, much bigger than before!

And if you click on the picture it gets bigger, in case you're like me and like LOTS and LOTS of details in all the pictures you look at!!! :o)

The little cutie pie started with it's head on one side and managed to flip around to the other side within the 10 minutes the doctor was peeking inside. Quite an active little turd. On the second picture, the doctor wrote "YO" cause you can just see one leg and two little hands... it was saying hi to mommy and daddy, hehehe!!!

So, that's all for this post. Sorry no new belly shots. There's not really been much of a change, so I'm keeping them to one every few weeks, until I really start showing!! And I promise to try to post more often, I know I've been a slacker, sorry! :o(

Belly Shots {13 Weeks}

2009-04-21T22:35:00.001-07:00

Hi! Just a quick post to share my first belly shots! I'm gonna try to post one every week from here on out. I couldn't make myself take them before, but I made it to my second trimester {yippee, I know!!} So I thought I better get started on documenting my growing belly!

So here is 13 weeks!!!

Since I can no longer fit in my regular clothes, me and Mitch went shopping after my ultrasound yesterday and I bought some maternity clothes. Cute huh??

And check out this pic I got Mitch to do with me!

I love it! So so sweet!!!

He agreed to take one every month for the rest of my pregnancy.

Anyhoo, I am tired. So tired I even took a nap today. So a quick little snack then I'm off to bed.

I'll be posting again soon though! I have new ultrasound pics to share. And some little updates! But in the meantime, me and baby are great! I'm so happy I could burst, and I hope all my bloggy friends are good too! :o)

We LOVE Company!!!

2009-04-06T17:31:00.000-07:00

Mommy, Josh and Dylan came to visit us last week. They were only here for 2 days, but I was so excited to have company, especially them!!! We hadn't seen them since our trip to California for Christmas.

I finally got to give Dylan his "Grave Digger" truck that I got him from Monster Jam {which I have yet to blog about}. I made YUMMY lasagna, my very first time making lasagna since I used to help out in the kitchen as a kid. I knew how much Dylan LOVES lasagna, so I made it a few days in advance and then stuck it in the freezer so I wouldn't have to cook while they were here. Unfortunately, Dylan noticed the green stuff {spinach} that I added, and I swear he woulda loved it, if I had blindfolded him, but that kid sees green and thinks "vegetables" and dinner becomes a fight after that!!! Grrrrrr.

Anywho, we had loads of fun! Dylan loves to visit Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Mitchy, because we always plan at least one really fun thing to do. I know, I'm the best Aunty in the world!!! :o)

We went to the huge arcade at Circus Circus. He LOVED it!!! Hours of fun for super duper cheap! A five year old's dream come true. That was his favorite part of the whole trip.

First he played that bowling game, where you roll the ball, and try to make it into the highest scoring circles. He did pretty good, but didn't win anything. So then Mitch tried. He didn't win either. Haha. I love that game, so of course I won the little guy a stuffed animal!! Go me!!!!!

He loved the video arcade section the best! Here is me and him smiling for the camera before racing.

And him and Uncle Mitch having some fun!

Notice Mitch's hat?? Guess who did that? Chumba is a bad bad doggy! But Mitch still wears it, lol!

So while Dylan rode the motorcycle...

The grown ups decided to have some air hockey fun!!!

First it was me against Mitch. I won!!!

Then it was me....

Versus Mom!

Oh my gosh, let me just say we had a blast!!! We played several games, and it got very intense, we were both laughing so hard! We both won a couple.

After that we headed for the theater to watch our movie, but of course we lost track of time, and we were late. So we decided to eat while we waited for the next show. We had Mexican {it was OK, but not somewhere I'd go again}.

Then we caught the 6:00 showing of Monster Vs. Aliens in 3D.

Mitch had been up 30 hours, and fell asleep during the movie. Dylan really liked it, but after the arcade, he didn't wanna sit still so long. And about 3/4 of the way through he asked me if it was ever gonna be over. That was only the second movie he had ever been to, and I was excited to take him to his first 3D movie.

Before they left Monday afternoon, we cooked up my lasagna for lunch. Then me and Dylan had some strawberry shortcake. Yum yum!

Dylan played in the backyard, loved the swing set, and had lotsa bonding time with Chumba. Which led him to ask me if he could "borrow Chumba" for a little while. Too darn cute!

Then we had to say goodbye. I love them so much! I'm so glad they visited, and can't wait to see them again next week when we go to California for Easter!

The Doctors went GREAT!!!

2009-03-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post about my doctors appointment that I had on Tuesday. But I have been even more nauseous than usual, if that is even possible. They call it "morning" sickness, but morning is usually the only time of day I feel OK, then the rest of the day and night is awful. Please please please make the second trimester better!!!!!

OK dok, so, the doctors went great. He did an ultrasound and I got to see the little turd. Here, you can see too.

I don't think you can tell from this pic, but the doctor typed HI MOM DAD, on the screen before he "printed our pictures for our baby book" Mitch really got a kick outta that.

I was so nervous, and to finally be able to see our little baby, and to see the little heartbeat was the most amazing thing. I couldn't stop smiling all day. My doctor said that my nausea is a very good sign of a strong pregnancy. And that everything looks great. So I am still a little scared, but not nearly as much as I was.

Oh, then they gave me a huge goody bag. And by bag I mean a breastfeeding diaper bag, overflowing with stuff. Like diapers, breast pads, cans of formula, a little travel bag, a book, tons of magazines, diaper rash ointment, little bottles to hold breast milk, a weekly journal, a pacifier, coupons and more!!! The thing was heavy, and it was fun to go through.

So my next appointment was supposed to be in 4 weeks, but that is Easter week, and the doc isn't taking patients that week, so we scheduled it for just short of 5 weeks away. That was the only time they had a morning appointment and Mitch really wants to go to as many appointments as possible. He was so adorable and happy, and has been a great husband lately!

I'll have another ultrasound then, because I did have a cyst on my left ovary. The doc says it's probably nothing to worry about, and that by the looks of it, it should go away on it's own. So we'll check it out next time, then proceed from there. He reassured us it was nothing to worry about, so I'm not gonna worry unless I have to!

Anyhoo, I am gonna get this posted for you all!!! Sorry it took me SOOO long!!! Thanks for your sweet comments! :o)

I feel awful... and I miss you!

2009-03-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

Really really awful! I have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week nausea. And because of that I NEVER ever feel like blogging anymore. I miss blogging, and all my bloggy friends so so much!

I have super sore boobies, I'm always exhausted, I spend two thirds of my day in bed or on the couch, and the other third in the bathroom peeing, I'm breaking out like crazy, and did I mention the nausea??? But despite all the yucky stuff I am hopeful. I haven't had any cramps. NONE at all!!! And no sign of bleeding.

I'm 8 weeks along, and have my first doctors appointment next Tuesday. One more month and I'll be through the first trimester. I just keep telling myself that I can survive anything as long as this pregnancy gives me a baby.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!! I miss you all, and just wanted to quickly update you on what I've been up to. :o)

Ewwwww!

2009-02-23T15:46:00.000-08:00

All I gotta say, is the smell of the hamburger meat cooking right now is making me SICK!!! Ughhh.

Back to the kitchen {with my nose covered I might add} to finish breakfast... lunch... dinner??? Whatever the heck it is, for my babers.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

I missed you too!

2009-02-22T01:44:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Have you missed me???

I missed you too! :o)

We are barely two months into 2009 and my life has been filled with so much, everything!!!

I moved to Reno. LOVE my new place. Well besides the kitchen cabinets, they are awful, and scratched. But I'll deal. Our refrigerator that I was cleaning on my last post... clean, but stinky! I have been forbidden from my husband from eating anything that comes out of it! Come on! A girl needs her milk!

It smells moldy. And he thinks that it will hurt the baby.

Did you catch that?

I am pregnant again!!!!!

We are trying not to get our hopes up too much. I'll tell you more in a minute... back to my fridge.

Mitch says we are gonna get a new one. I wish we could make this one work. It is a decent fridge, and I promised him that our next BIG purchase would be his flat screen TV. He wants it so badly. Poor babers. He works so hard for that TV he wants. :o(

I want him to get his TV, so then I can get my furniture... I have a family room now, and guess what? It is totally and completely empty. Except for bar stools, and a halfway ripped apart chair that I really like and am gonna reupholster. I am so excited, it will be my very first time. But I gotta wait until Mitch gets me a *good* staple gun. He has high standards. You know since he used to use one all the time when he installed flooring.

I think my staple gun is lower on the priority list than his TV, {sigh} I feel like I am never gonna get all my projects done. I have so many, and am SUPER duper excited about all of them. YAY!!!

I feel bad that I haven't posted any pictures at all lately. I LOVE pictures. But I don't like ugly pictures. So I found one good one to share. My pretty Valentines Day flowers I got last week. See?

We never celebrate Valentines Day. So I was shocked to find my flowers when I woke up. And I was being such a meanie that morning too, I felt bad.

It was kinda funny, because I called him at midnight {he works graveyards} to ask him to pick me up a sausage and egg mcmuffin, hash brown and orange juice from McDonalds when he got off work in the morning. I was totally craving it and HAD to have it in the morning. It was before we knew I was pregnant, and his coworker asked him if I was pregnant. Shoulda known!!!

So all I was expecting was my breakfast, and getting flowers and breakfast was a perfect start to my day. I just love my babers.

So remember how I told you that my sister Danetta is pregnant again? Well, it turns out that we are only a few days apart in our pregnancies. I hope everything goes good this time for both of us. I think it will be so awesome to have someone so close to me to go through this with. And our kids will be the same age. How cool is that!!!

I am trying so hard to not stress out. But having two miscarriages in the past 6 months is making it hard to not stress out. During the day I decorate, and watch TV, and surf online, and am preoccupied, so the bad thoughts don't creep up so much.

But when I'm laying in bed, it gets harder. And last night I had a dream that I started bleeding, and lost the baby. I had cramps last night, and when I woke up to go pee {yeah, I do that like 2 or 3 times a night} I remembered my dream. It was awful. Because I laid there thinking about everything, and it took forever to fall back asleep.

Plus Mitch keeps freaking out every time I touch my stomach. Asking if I have cramps. And the look on his face makes me feel so bad. Then when I tell him I am fine, it's just mild cramping and normal, he grabs my boobs to see if they still hurt. You see, last time, I woke up on the 14th, and my boobs didn't hurt anymore. And I just knew.... and within a few hours I started bleeding. So I totally do the boob thing every single morning. And even though they hurt SOOOO much, I am grateful, because I take it as a good sign. Go ahead, laugh, I am! It is funny! I am the weird pregnant woman that wants all those crappy symptoms, at least for now.

I have a doctors appointment set up for March 17. I will feel so much better after I see the doctor. I can make it until then. I will.

And until then, I will read your blogs, {because they are all fabulous} decorate my new place, and finish my "time out" bench. I have before pictures, and soon I'll have after pictures. It is so little, and it's gonna be so very cute in my living room. You'll see!!!

Our First Night!

2009-02-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

We spent ALL day moving, in the rain and snow! Fuuuuuun times!

No TV, phone or internet until Monday. But I found an unsecured wireless network to tap into until mine comes! YEAH! One of my new neighbors ROCKS!!!

Anyways, just wanted to let all my bloggy readers know where I've been. Gotta go clean the icky icky fridge that's been in storage forever! Yuck!

p.s. Thanks for all your sweet comments on my last post. I will get around to responding, once things settle down a bit! :o)

Are you kidding me???

2009-02-04T11:14:00.001-08:00

**Warning, LONG angry post**

I have been BUSY as can be packing up, moving day is a few days away!!! I ran outta boxes 2 days ago, and sent Mitch out to get a few more. A few.... yeah, my babers came back with like 50 boxes! And he finally brought me some small ones, a little bit too late! I guess he wanted to make sure I had enough, he says he ain't going out for boxes again! Hehehe.

It is a good thing I am caught up on packing, cause yesterday I didn't do anything. Well I cried and yelled a lot! It was an awful day! Sami is having a baby girl. She finally found out. And I am happy for her, I am sooooo excited for another niece. And I totally think I coulda handled that news alone. But at the same time I got the news that Netta is pregnant again.

Deep breath.

The second I heard the words my eyes welled up with tears. I tried not to cry, and had to get off the phone. It was too much.

I have a miscarriage, and a few weeks later Sami finds out she is pregnant. I have another miscarriage, and a few weeks later {yesterday} Netta finds out she is pregnant. Are you kidding me????? It's like the fertile fairy took my baby and transplanted it into them. Seriously, they literally conceived almost if not the exact day that I miscarried. Both times!!!!!!!!

It is like someone is taking all of my pain and fears and emotions I am trying very hard to live with, and rubbing them in my face, and saying HAHAHA.

My sisters are all I have. Them and my moms {mother in law counted cause she is fabulous} are ALL. When I started crying yesterday I had nobody to talk to {besides Mitch, who can only take so much} they were all celebrating. I can't take that away. That is not fair of me. I feel so alone. I know I will get through this. But right now, I wanna cry and scream.

It is HARD. I love the girls {although I am maaaaaaaddddd at Sami, WAY WAY WAY mad at her and her rude, inconsiderate, immature, ungrateful little child of a boyfriend, and I know that was mean but you know what?? I. DON'T. CARE.} I am happy for them. I just don't understand. Maybe if I hadn't been so careful and just got myself knocked up, I'd have my baby.

I was careful. I waited. I used birth control. We are ready financially. We are ready emotionally. We waited for everything to be right. It was hard, I woulda loved a baby years ago, but I knew that it wasn't the right time. Money wasn't right. We weren't ready in our relationship yet. I was too selfish. I liked my time. I didn't wanna share. So I waited.

I know I could get pregnant and stay pregnant next month. The month after. The month after that. I know I might. But I also know I might not. And today I am sad. I am hurt. I am confused. And I am trying to be happy for my sisters. Trying.

Another Deep Breath.

Are you dying to know yet why I am SOOOOOOO mad at Sami and Justin???

The one thing I do have, is the knowledge that someday I WILL have my little Riley Conner or Addison Kayleigh. That is one thing I know. One thing we decided on years and years ago. Even before we were ready, we named our kids. It has never changed.

All I can say is that Justin and Sami are beyond lucky that they are having a girl, because I just found out yesterday that they were gonna name their son Riley.

Maybe it is OK in your eyes, but I lost it when I found out. LOST IT!

Me, Netta and Sami liked the name Riley for years. I liked it for a boy name, them for a girl. We used to joke about who would have kids first and get the name.

Well, Netta's husband Jordan didn't like the name, so one worry gone. And nobody ever thought Sami would *ever* have another kid. And if she did, it would be years after me.

Well, after we found out she was pregnant, we had a talk about baby names. She said that even though she liked the name Riley, it wasn't at the top of her list, and she said she would never *ever* do that to me. Justin was there for that conversation, it was when we were shopping for my wedding dress. Why was he there??? I didn't want him there. I wanted Sami there. Me and her. Only. But I kept my mouth shut, and dealt with it.

Sorry, I got sidetracked.

Back to my story. She knew it would be wrong {as a caring sister} to steal my name. With all that I have been through. She knew.

Well, she let stupid STUPID Justin convince her that it was OK. That my feeling didn't matter AT ALL! It was different before my miscarriages. It was different then.

I am convinced that little boy has no sense of other peoples feelings, and sometimes I wonder if Sami does?

Yesterday when I found out, I was angry. I called him. I yelled at him. I never yell at people. Mitch sat there with his moth open while I let Justin have it. While I tried at least. He interrupted me, told me to "call him back when I calm down, cause he ain't listening to anymore of this bullshit" and HUNG UP ON ME!!!!!

Call him back? Um, yeah, I totally planned on doing that. Ummm, NOT!!!!! I don't want to ever ever ever talk to him again. Especially after he hung up on me!

One more deep breath.

So, I am packing today. All day. And listening to music. It calms me. It helps me forget for a while. I am happily looking forward to moving into my new place in a few days. And I am remembering all the good things in my life, and being very thankful that I live a whole state away from Justin, cause I am pretty sure I could take him on, and I don't think I would be able to hold myself back if I seen him face to face right now.

I hope I didn't scare anyone away. But it's my blog, and I can cry if I want to. Here's to hoping today is better for me and you! :o)

Visiting California {Christmas}

2009-01-29T01:35:00.000-08:00

OK, I better get on with the posting of our California trip. We spent Christmas Eve at Mitch's parents house. See, this is them in their Harley Davidson sweaters we bought them!!!

And you totally can't see the sweaters that good. Oh well! Mitch made them pose for a pic in them, it was sooo cute!

So back to my story. Remember I spent the ENTIRE day wrapping presents and finishing my Christmas cards! Fun!!! Connie made a YUMMY Roast beef dinner. Then me and Mitcheal went to bed in the trailer where we stayed!

I like staying in the trailer. It has privacy. The only sucky thing is that the water wasn't tuned on. So when I had to pee I had to either sneak inside {and risk waking them up in the middle of the night... ummm, no NOT me!} or go pee in a cup. Hahaha. Guess which one I did! Yeppers, I peed in a cup! It wasn't so bad. I do it at the doctors office, and every time I take one of those {many many many} darn pregnancy tests.

Christmas morning more of the family came over, and Connie made breakfast. Plus we had lots of yummy Mimosas, like we do every year!

Then we opened presents!!!

I got a couple pictures of Travis on his little Harley Davidson bike! He even got some gloves, which I helped him put on!

Check out Dennis {my father in law} and Travis making silly faces for the camera!

I really like these pictures of me and Mitch with little Travis. Connie was trying to sneak in a picture of us three snuggling on the couch, but she couldn't figure out how to use the camera. So I had to get up and show her. We ended up with more posed pictures instead, but they still remind me of the sweet moment.

After a while we left for Jackson to have Christmas dinner at my sister Danetta's house. Here is a quick pic of her and her hubby Jordan.

Once again everyone was there but Laura. You'd think I only had two little sisters from all the pictures.

Here is little Sami getting herself some Turkey!

Everyone was starved except me! I was still stuffed from our HUGE breakfast at Connie's.

Izaiah decided he wanted some Christmas dinner too! Uncle Mitchy was more than happy to share his with him.

He is a little cutie pie! I wish I could spend more time with the little booger!

ADORABLE

So, we hung out for a while with the family. I believe there was a fight between me and Sami {what can I say, we are sisters and when we get together and *don't* fight it is simply AMAZING} I stormed out, and was promptly "carried" back inside to say goodbye by Mitcheal. Everyone thought that was VERY funny!

Afterward, Mommy, Josh, Mitch and me went to the Main Event bar for a couple drinks {mine were water, cause I was the designated driver} and dancing! Remember???

Then we dropped Mommy and Josh off, and went back to our *cozy* little trailer for out last night in California! :o)

Pretty Makeup Brush Roll

2009-01-24T16:27:00.000-08:00

I told you all I'd be sharing pictures of this pretty makeup brush roll I made for my littlest sissy.

Last year I bought her a set of makeup brushes for Christmas. So in my attempt at a handmade Christmas this year, I decided to make her a roll case to hold her brushes.

Of course I got sooooo busy before Christmas, and Chumba ruined her first present I made, so she had to wait until now to get this {I just made it a couple days ago} but I promised her a handmade present, and I keep my promises!

So here it is!!!

I used my brushes as props for the pictures! :o)

I think I want to make me one now. Maybe not exactly the same, but my makeup brushes would love a brand new pretty home!

So I think Sami will like it!

Hope all you fellow bloggylanders have a HAPPY day!

Lapel Pins Anyone???

2009-01-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

My fellow blogger and SITSta Courtney is volunteering at the 2009 Special Olympic World Winter Games along with her husband Nate.

They are collecting lapel pins to give away to the athletes during the games {the athletes love trading and collecting pins from others who are at the games} and they want to have enough to give at least one to each of their delegation's athletes. She went out to purchase the pins, but it turned out the be a bit costly! So she is trying to get the word out to see if anyone has any pins that are "just stuffed away in a drawer" that they might want to donate???

I know I had a handful! And I am sooooo glad they will be going toward something GREAT like this, instead of just sitting in my jewelry box!

If any of you have any pins you might want to part with, or would like to donate to their cause go visit her!!! :o)

Click here to read her post {she explains it sooo much better!}

Thanks bunches for taking the time to read this! Have a happy Thursday night!

Altered Manicure Lap Desk

2009-01-21T18:01:00.001-08:00

I bought this Manicure Lap Desk from Pottery Barn Teen a few years back. I totally love it! It is way girlie, and a perfect spot to keep my nail polish and to do my nails!

The only problem was that the top had gotten ugly from me and my sisters spilling nail polish on it. The nail polish took off the cream colored paint, and it looked icky!

So I decided to decoupage the top with some pretty matching paper! Voila!

Here is the Before picture...

And here is the beautiful after shot...

And I know you were dying to see inside! :o)

So here you go!!!

It was super easy to do! And even Mitch thinks it is a HUGE improvement.He seriously thinks I should decoupage EVERYTHING! Kitchen cabinets anyone???

Anywho, I have another project I finished {a pretty makeup brush roll that I made for my sister} but I'll save that for another post! And I taught myself how to knit, so when I finish my scarf I'm making I'll share pictures.

Here are a few more pretty pictures to admire!

Hope everyone out there in bloggyland is having a fabulous day! Thanks for your sweet comments on my previous post! They mean a lot! :o)

Updates and Bloggy Awards

2009-01-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Life happens whether you want it to or not!

I've had a bit of both lately.

First we will get the bad news outta the way. I had another miscarriage. I am OK. I was 5 weeks along, and had just found out I was pregnant a week before I lost the baby. Although I "knew" for a couple of weeks.

It was not as hard as my fist miscarriage that happened at 12 weeks. But it is FAR more frustrating.

My doctor wanted me to come in a talk about possible testing. But I am moving {that's the good news I'll get to in a minute} and will be switching doctors. So I told him I wanted to try one more time before I go down that road.

He says that is fine, as long as I think I can emotionally handle the possibility of another miscarriage.

So we try again!

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OK, onto the good news that I did want to happen!!!

We are moving! Yep yep yeppers! We have been waiting for months {ever since Mitch got his job in Sparks} to move to the Reno, Sparks area.

Right now Mitch commutes an hour to work each day. Yeah S.U.C.K.Y.

So, I looked at tons of rentals online, and found a few we liked, but only ONE we really liked and really could afford!

We went a couple weeks ago and looked at the place in person. And we REALLY liked it even more! So we put in an application and waited.

And waited. And waited. Then we had to call them, and ask if we were approved. We were! Someone was supposed to call us and tell us, but they forgot.

We went yesterday, and paid our deposits, and signed the lease. Yay yay yay!!! We move in on February 9th. We are both soooooo happy to be moving out of our townhouse.

And into our new {unattached and bigger} house!

This is the picture from the listing, once we move in I will take more pictures, of course! It is a 1550 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom house. The backyard is much bigger for our little Chummers. And the person who lived there before left a nice swing set. Dylan will LOVE that when he visits!

So if I'm not around much for the next few weeks, it's because I am cleaning and packing, and moving in!!!

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Before I go, I wanted to share my two awards I got this past week!!!

First off Stephanie gave me another award! Because as she says "I am the only ONLY only one who understands her right now...really...I do!"

I totally feel the same way about Stephanie!!! She wants to be a mommy as badly as me. We become instant friends through some difficult shared experiences. I am soooooooo glad I have her to talk to!

The BEAUTIFUL Award

I also got an award from Dee! She says "I am a HOOT and so creative!" Totally sweet of her! I used to be on an eBay design team with Dee. She is quite creative herself!!! I left the Making Lemonade Design Team because I have so much other stuff going on in my life, and wasn't able to contribute anymore! But I still keep in touch with some of the girls, they are a great group of paper artists!

The Marie Antoinette Award

There are rules and I am totally supposed to pass these awards on to other people. But I really really need to start packing. And Mitch is gonna want dinner. I just don't have the time today!

But I REALLY do appreciate these awards, both girls who gave them to me are sweethearts! Thank You sooooooo much!!! :o)

Visiting California {Hanging with the Fam}

2009-01-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

Our first day in California I visited my family! We hung out at Netta's house.

First Netta made me open my present... it was a birthday and Christmas present, and since it was the 23rd, which falls between the two days, I got to open it early.

Of course we had to take a picture, and little Dylan held my present for me {he tried to open it for me too} hehee!

See! Here is "our" present! The toaster from our Target wedding registry!

I woulda taken a real life picture.... but my sisters Laura and Sami were visiting all weekend, and my kitchen is a BIG MESS!!!

I love my Mommy!

And my 3 baby sisters!

Laura Ysaura {who wasn't there, so no picture}

Danetta Marie {Netta}

and {Sami} Samantha Dawn.

Dylan loves the camera! Little goofball! :o)

He insisted we take a picture of him with each of us.

Dylan and Sami {his Mommy}

a close up with Aunt Kimmy {meeeeeee}

and a cute pic on Aunty Netta's lap.

He also likes to "take" pictures! Josh got him a camera for Christmas!

Check out our jeans and boots!!!

Netta was goofing around! Her and her little baby Izaiah are too freakin' cute!

I had to do some last minute shopping {remember I didn't wrap anything until Christmas Eve!}

So the girlies went with me! In the Christmas section of Wal-Mart, they all put on Christmas hats {Netta's couldn't find one she liked, so she threw on this tree, lol.}

Apparently we are really really LOUD when we are together! Poor Mommy was exhausted after being with us 3 ALL day long! Good thing Laura wasn't there too! We woulda been outta control, {plus when you get all 4 of us sisters together, we tend to fight, A LOT} haha!

Anyways, the day was fun! We didn't do anything toooo exciting! Just lotsa talking and lounging around "together"!!!

I love days like this! Spending time with the ones you love is great! I miss my family!

Visiting California {The Drive There}

2009-01-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

I totally need to share my California trip here in bloggyland before it becomes ancient history!

Do you like how I call it my "California trip" instead of "Christmas"??? Hehehe.

There are more pics of family and fun, than of actual Christmas, so I think it is {quite} appropriate! :o)

Soooooo, for my first post of a few, I have pictures I took on the {looooong} drive over. OK, so it wasn't a "forever and ever, never ending" drive, but, it was MUCH longer than the usual 3 hours, due to the snow falling heavily from the sky!!!

To start off I have my backseat passengers number one and two. My little sister Sami and her honey buns Justin. I am the most awesomest sister for picking them up the night before {in bad weather I might add... GO ME!}

Of course they had to share the backseat with our little pain in the butt puppy Chummers. He kept trying to climb in the front with me and Mitcheal, but I'd have NONE of that!!!

He likes road trips, especially the pretending to have to go potty so he can get out and sniff the "new" surroundings for as long as he possibly can!

Oh, and sticking his head out the window, no matter how cold it is, FUN TIMES!

Here's my sweetie pie! I am so VERY very glad he drove. He is a VERY good snow driver! I love that about him. ♥

Let me just say this, I love where I live now. It's not big city, but it's city enough for me with all the shopping and well, shopping nearby.

But I also grew to LOVE the mountains, despite my initial dislike for them {come on, what would you expect form a 16 year old, bored outta her mind???}

Check out ALLLLLL the trees! And snow! I had to take this picture to capture exactly what the weather was like! {By the way, "The drive home" post will have TONS and TONS of scenery pictures. It was so pretty, I just couldn't help myself.}

Do you really know me??? Well, if you do, then you know how very girlie and in LOVE with shoes I am!!! Someday I'll show you my closet, and my fabulously organized perfectly matching boxes and boxes of shoes!

These shoes are NOT very pretty. But they are comfy, and good for a road trip, although, once I got out {for Chumba's sake, and to keep guard for Sami while she peed} I thought that my snow boots would have been better suited for walking in the wet snow.

I survived though! :o)

And finally, we have MEEEEE! And of course I had to take my favorite car mirror pic! No trip of mine would be complete without it!

We finally made it to California! And boy was I sick of being in that car!!!

Be sure to come back soon for some FUN with my mommy, sisters and their little ones!

I LOVE you Mitcheal Young!!!

2009-01-14T03:08:00.001-08:00

Dear Mitcheal,

Yesterday was our "we've been dating 8 years" anniversary. And I wanted to tell you how much I ♥ you.

You know the way you *always* make me smile no matter how furiously angry I am with you.. I HATE it when your doing it, but I love that you're the only one who can.

I ♥ your sweet smile, and your pretty greenish blue eyes that look at me with more love and adoration than I ever thought possible {I really love being sooooo adored.}

Thank you for our first dance as husband and wife, even it it was 3 months late and at the Main Event Bar on Christmas night with Mommy and Josh... it wouldn't be us if it wasn't a little different than *normal*..... I LOVED THAT NIGHT!!! It was perfect! ;o)

I love that you don't care one little bit what other people think, you are completely you!

Thank you for letting me be completely me too! Even when you think I'm totally insane! I love you so much for trying to make all my dreams come true! You are amazing!!!!!

You are going to be the worlds best Daddy! It is amazing to look back through the years and see how much you have changed... I love that I got to be there to witness all those changes, they were all for the better.

You have grown up a lot from that 19 year old boy that stole my heart.

I love that I am your first love.

Thank you for becoming a grown up with me! And for being so willing to grow old with me too! We both know you'll be taking care of me and my broken old lady body years form now! Hahaha!

Thank you for saying "I Do" and becoming my husband!

You make me SOOOOOO happy Mitch!

I am so glad I am the lucky girl that gets to spend the rest of my life with you!

I love you

Jiggety Jigg is giving away a FABULOUS prize!

2009-01-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

This is a FABULOUS camera strap cover!!!

Admit it, you LOVE it! OK, well I LOVE it! And I have a chance to win it! And you can win one like it too! Just go here to pick your favorite! Then go over to Jiggety Jigg and enter Jenni's very first bloggy giveaway for your chance to win!

p.s. Wanna increase your chance of winning???? Go visit SITS, cause they are giving away one of these fabulous camera straps too!!! They're popular today!!! Must be cause they are so dang cute!

This one's for you Amber!

2009-01-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

Hehehe, did I get your attention Amber?

So, you asked me about the presents I wrapped for Christmas, they were nothing extraordinary. Just different!

I started with a piece of wrapping paper that was large enough to go all the way around the gift. Then I folded it over the gift, leaving 3 open sides. I stitched together 2 of the open sides, then stuck the gift inside, and stitched up the last side.

I had to be very careful with the delicate wrapping paper... I'd seen a tutorial for this, using kraft paper, click here to read it. But I couldn't find any, so I decided to try it with wrapping paper. It was fabulous for wrapping oddly shaped gift... without needing boxes.

Plus it made it *really* easy for the kids to open the presents, without the hassle of tape, they were able to really just RIP them open! :o)

Here is a picture of my nephew Travis {I have two nephews named Travis, this is Mitch's sisters son} opening his present! It's not the best picture... I was too busy to take a {good} picture of the presents like I usually would have! Wish I had now though!

Anyways, I thought this was the best way to answer your question! Hope the picture, and link to the post where I got the idea helped!!!

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About time I shared these {Christmas Cards}

2009-01-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Good golly.... I have been SICK! On Christmas my little nephew Izaiah was sick, well, he got my hubby Mitcheal sick, and then Mitch got ME sick! UGHHH. I've been in bed for days. But... I am finally feeling a bit better.

And since we are a whole 7 days into the New Year already, I thought I better get on with this Christmas sharing stuff I never got around to. So I'm starting with my Christmas cards!

Remember I was using all these pretty pink papers? Well, here is the finished product!

I didn't finish my cards until Christmas Eve, hehehe. I just got so busy with all the projects I was doing! I finished them at my mother in laws house, and handed them out to everyone on Christmas Day. Which was kinda cool, because I got to watch everyone open them.

Yeah, do they look hard to open to you? Well, several of my in-laws had a hard time getting them open. It was quite funny to watch them. They couldn't figure out that you slide the first part off them pull the picture out. They kept trying to rip the paper, lol!

Oh, and one more thing while I'm on a similar subject.... I machine sewed my presents shut. No tape, no scissors. It was different, but turned out cute! The presents looked like little pillows.

Well, after I was done and put everything under the tree, my father in law looks at the presents, and says "wow, check out that wrapping paper, it's so different, how did you do that?"

And after some coaxing, we figured out that he thought I'd woven the paper on my sewing machine!

Yep.... too funny!!! I used "non-traditional" wrapping paper, he'd never seen it in those colors and patterns. So he thought I'd been in the other room making it! LOL!

We were dying with laughter as we explained that I'd just sewn the packages shut, nothing more! And couldn't resist teasing him Christmas morning as we were opening the presents!

So, I decided that next Christmas I'm gonna have to REALLY wow him with my wrapping job! :o)

My Very First Bloggy Award!!!

2009-01-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

I got my VERY first bloggy award today! What a way to start the new year! :o)

Here it is!

The 2009 New Year's Spirit Award!

Stephanie gave it to me!

Stephanie is one of my newest bloggy friends, and the second I read her blog, I knew I'd be coming back for more! We both want nothing more than a baby, and after a {VERY} rough year of trying, we hope the new year will grant us our biggest wish!!!

Thanks for my award Stephanie! I hope the new year brings happiness and babies for you as well!!! :o)

OK, now onto business...

First the Rules:

1. You must be a true lover of the New Year to receive this award.
The person to whom you give the award must also be in love with the New Year.

2. List 5 things that you love about the New Year. If you can't limit it to 5 things, then keep going till you run out of space.

3. Pass the award along to as many people as you like. That can be 1 or 50. It's up to you! But keep the New Year cheer going.

4. Let your recipients know that you have tagged them by leaving a comment on their site. Also, link back to the person who gave you the award.

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Here are the five things that I LOVE about the New Year!

1. I LOVE being able to buy a new calendar, the constant changing every year helps with the indecision that I always have when it comes to design! :o)

2. Before I got married {and got a REAL anniversary} January 13 was my "we've been dating this long" anniversary, so the New Year meant I had been with my babers another year!!! By the way we still celebrate it, and this month marks 8 years together!!!

3. The New Year always makes me reflect on what's REALLY important in my life. I'm not one for resolutions, I know I won't keep them. But the New Year always makes me want to be a better person in ANY way that I can!

4. I am a HUGE night person. And New Year's is the one day out of the year that it is considered NORMAL to be up in the wee hours of the morning, hehehe!

5. I LOVE that Brand New Year = Brand New Start! If you failed at something the year before, come January 1st, you get to start all over again. No questions asked. :o)

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And of course to pass it on, I give this award to the following 4 peeps {since 4 is my favorite number}:

Emily: She's a friend who I wish I knew in real life! We have soooo much in common, seriously!!! I wish she lived closer!

Jiggety Jigg Jenni: She never fails to crack me up! I seriously LOVE her blog!

Whitney: I just recently found her blog, and I'm glad I did! It's fun to read, and her New Year's post was truly inspiring!!!

Tara: She is an wonderful mommy to her beautiful little Chloe, and an amazing person!

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Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope it brings happiness for all of you!

In Laws...

2008-12-30T02:04:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm gonna get angry then really happy all in the same post, ready????

Originally I wasn't gonna post about this, but I changed my mind.... on Christmas day, we gave Mitch's grandma a framed picture of us from our wedding. She loved it, and was showing everyone. Well, Mitch's aunt and uncle, who didn't come to our {very} small wedding, asked for a copy of the picture.

I told them that would be no problem, just to give me a few minutes to print one out from my laptop.

All of a sudden, his aunt looks at me and says "Kimmy, do you know why you never got a wedding gift from us?"

Seriously?????? Uhhh, we basically eloped, but wanted a few close people there, so we "called" our parents and sisters, and told them the date. They chose to call other extended family, and invite them. We never sent out invitations, and didn't expect gifts from anyone. We made that quite clear. Although at the request of his mom, we did create a wedding registry at Target.

Well, I humored her, and said "No, why?"

Get this.... she follows by saying "You never sent out announcements, as soon as you send us one, you will get a gift."

OK!!! I am beyond angry at this point. Does she remember that 2 weeks after my wedding I had a miscarriage??? Did someone forget to mention this little fact to her? She has to know, because I'm not all huge like I would be at 30 weeks {which is how far along I woulda been if I hadn't lost the baby.}

I just stare for a minute with my mouth open.

Then I very calmly and politely say "Yeah, we had a lot of personal stuff happen right after the wedding. I bought the paper and stuff and totally planned to make announcements, but things were too hard, and then it was Christmas time, and now it's kinda silly to send them out, when everyone knows we have been married for several months now."

Did she get my subtle hint??? No! Over the next half hour she kept telling me to send her something, anything. She said I could write it on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and mail it to her. That would work. Then she'd send me a present.

Oh my freakin' goodness!!!!!!!!

I went in the other room, printed out her picture {yeah, I'm that nice!} Looked at my mother in law, and said "Are you kidding me? Does she not realize how physically and emotionally painful my miscarriage was? I was useless for over a month. I was in the worst pain of my life. So sorry it upset her so much that 'I' didn't get to send out 'my' wedding announcements. Gosh how RUDE of ME!!!"

Well Connie told me everything would be OK, just to ignore her.

GRRRRRR. Now if I send nothing, then I will probably never hear the end of it. But if I send something, then I feel like I'm fishing for a gift. I'm NOT sending out any sort of announcement!! So there. If she wants to give us a gift, fine. She can do it because she wants to, not as some sort of freakin' condition. Lame, lame lame!!!!!!

Oh, and maybe someone should warn her to never ever bring it up again. Because "nice Kimmy" that everyone knows and loves won't be the one letting her have it, with how I really feel! There won't be any sugar coating stuff next time!

OK, I feel better. Now onto the good stuff!

My mother and father in law are FABULOUS!!! Seriously! Remember this post?

Apparently, Mitch's truck is fixed, but it won't last that much longer. Sooooo, his parents gave us their explorer! Gave it to us! Connie says it has more room, which we need, since we are trying to have a baby. We gotta have somewhere to put a carseat.

How awesome are they? Mitch's dad is gonna keep Mitch's old truck, so he has something to drive until they get a new car for them.

They are always there for us. I love you Connie and Dennis! Thank you so so so so much!!!

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Twenty-Six

2008-12-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

On December 17th I turned 26! Twenty-Six!!! Where is the time going? Anyways, I thought I'd share some of my birthday fun with all my bloggy friends!

I decided to wear my birthday girl crown.... even though it totally embarrassed Mitch {heheee}. I wore it allllll day long!

So of course I had to wear fun shoes and purse to match!

Shoes...

Purse...

It was really cold that day, the temperature went below 10 degrees. Brrrrr, check out the frozen water that got left in the car!

Mitch drove the whole day {that never happens, ever} so I was stoked to be a chauffeured around all day long! Every time we go on long car rides, and I have my camera handy I take "mirror" pictures of me! Some are cute, some are goofy or serious. Here is my birthday mirror pic.

We went bowling first! I won the first game!!! Mitch tried very hard....

But I tried harder! Hehehehe! Yeah, this is me after I scored a spare. I got a bunch in a row!

Check out the scoreboard!

I totally lost the second game :o( We decided to leave after two games, because they put these really serious {super good} bowlers next to us, and it's hard to have goofy bowling fun right next to super serious bowlers.

We had fun though!!! I drank 2 Malibu Pineapples. Yummy! Then we were off to Applebees for dinner!

We started the meal with an appetizer, the artichoke spinach dip! Mmmmmmm! I LOVE that stuff! And I decided to try the Caramel Appletinis. Yummy!!!! They tasted just like a caramel apple! I will definitely order these again in the future!

Then for dinner I had the shrimp topped steak. And Mitch had some sort of chicken burger.

I've gone to Applebee's several years now for my birthday, {I love having my birthday there!} So I knew what was coming next! The Applebee's waitresses all come out with dessert, singing the Happy Clappy Birthday Song. They let me pick my dessert this year. I knew it was coming, but I was still embarrassed! Mitch took a picture of me and my dessert while they were singing.

Last stop of the night was the Daytona Casino. I wanted to go there because, I don't know anyone here locally besides Mitch of course. But since we go to the Daytona so much, I've become friendly with the employees there. So it was the closest to seeing friends on my birthday that I could get.

When I walked in, one of the guys asked if there was a beauty pageant going on {because of my birthday crown, hehe} So I corrected him and told him it was my birthday!!! And then I told him all about my night, including how embarrassed I was when Applebees sung happy birthday to me.

Well, he proceeded to tell me that they might sing happy birthday too, but that they had an intercom. Seriously???

In the meantime, we played $20, and I got free drinks. Here Mitch decided to order me Hypnotic on ice. As we were playing, Mitch said that he noticed them blowing up balloons, he thought they were for me. Nah!!!

Boy was I wrong, about 15 minutes later, I hear "Attention Daytona guests, we want to wish a very Happy Birthday to one of our special guests Kimberly Robinson!" {yeah I still haven't legally changed my name} I turn around, and Ryan and the other guy were standing behind me with balloons attached to a little present, it was a battery operated personal fan. He said they decided not to embarrass me more by singing to me.

How sweet of them! Seriously, I wasn't expecting anything, but they made me feel special.... without embarrassing me too much.

We played for a bit longer. I didn't win anything, what's up with that??? But it was getting late, and Mitch had to work the next day, so I had promised to get him home early! Just a quick trip to the bathroom before we left.... hehehe, I had to take a semi drunk self portrait in the bathroom mirror.

Chumba was very happy when we got home! He gave me birthday lovins, too cute!!!

Then it was bedtime! For Mitch anyways! Good night babers, thanks for a very happy birthday! I love you!!!

The End!

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Karma came Home!

2008-12-28T12:34:00.000-08:00

My kitty Karma has been missing for almost 2 weeks! Five minutes ago, Chumba started barking at the door, we looked and there she was! I've missed her sooooo much. I thought something happened to her, but I guess a neighbor must have had her in their house or something. I love you Karma Kitty! I am so glad that you are home and alive!!!!

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It's been a long long time...

2008-12-27T15:10:00.000-08:00

I've been so so so very busy! I have so much stuff to share, and I'll do it in several posts {so I won't overwhelm myself}

I had my 26th birthday... I took lotsa pictures, it was fun, just me and Mitch.

There are projects I wanna share {and now that Christmas is over, I can!}

My completed Christmas cards, they turned out super duper cute!

And of course pictures of our trip to California, and of Christmas itself! I might be a bit slow about it... we just got home last night, and I have to clean the house and take down the dead Christmas tree and decorations. But I am soooooo happy to be back home!

I've missed all my bloggy friends very much! And just spent 3 hours catching up on all the blogs I read. Shhhhhh, don't tell Mitch! :o)

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Happy Birthday Travis

2008-12-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

Today is my nephew Travis' 7th birthday. I miss that little boy sooooo much. He lives way over on the other side of the country from me, with his Daddy and little sister Chantell. I haven't seen him in a few years.

I really wish my sister would get her stuff together and be a mother to her children, because I would really love to spend lots and lots of time with those two. If I was able to make a birthday wish for my little Travis, it would be for him and sis to be able to spend ever year of their childhood nearby, so Aunt Kimmy could throw them the best birthday parties every year, and be the best Auntie that ever lived.

Happy Birthday Travis!!! I LOVE you soooooooo much! And I hope you know that and never ever forget me! You were the first baby to ever steal my heart. I'm thinking of you today and always.

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Card in Progress

2008-12-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of making my Christmas cards. I have enough patterned paper to make 15 cards. One is done already. Maybe I will buy more paper, maybe not. We'll see how I feel when I'm done. So, wanna see the photo insert I made for my cards?

You know you do! Here it is...

And...... here is my work area. I have all my paper cut, and ready to go! It should be easy breezy to get it all done!

You can see the finished card in one of the pictures. But no details until I am ALL DONE! Soon! I gotta get these babies sent out before Christmas is here! So, I gotta get back to my studio now! :o)

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Christmas Pictures

2008-12-12T17:44:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I made Mitch pose for some pictures for our Christmas cards. Of course he didn't wanna, but he did it anyways, cause he loves me that much {hahaha, actually he was probably just sick of listening to me talk about it.}

I set up my tripod, and ran back and forth between the camera and the Christmas tree, setting my timer for every picture. After each one Mitch kept saying "Only two more, then I'm done." He was such a good sport, he stuck it out for about 20 picture, and 3 changes of my shirt! Hehee.

Here are a few of the pictures, that turned out. The firt one is my favorite, which is why I shared the original and the photoshop edited version.

This one is too funny! Check out the look on Mitch's face. I couldn't stop laughing when I seen it the first time! I'm using these first two for our Christmas card. Last night I made a naughty and nice {silly and sweet} photo strip with them. Super cute. I'll show you later.

I think these last two pictures are cute, but I don't like the black on black shirts. So I'm not using them. But I thought I'd share them, so they serve some purpose. :o)

Anyways, I gotta go do stuff. I designed my Christmas card, the sample is done, but I need to make more now {14 is all I'm doing.}

Tonight is super windy!!! I'm soooo scared. I think wind is seriously my biggest phobia. It is expected to get up to 70-100 mph late into the night. Scary!!! Good thing I'm staying up, cause I can't sleep when I can hear the wind. Even my unconscious self is scared of it, if I hear wind in my sleep, I wake up and run to the window to make sure we haven't blown away.

waka waka <------ that was Mitch deciding he wanted to help me blog tonight. Hahaha. Well, it's time for bed {for him that is} so I'm gonna go tuck him in and snuggle for a bit. Good night!

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All but the Star

2008-12-08T01:14:00.001-08:00

My star disappeared! Actually both of my {two} stars never made it into my Christmas boxes last year, :o( Soooo, I need to buy, or maybe make a new one this year. But besides that, my tree is all done and pretty!

I always get a Charlie Brown tree. Mitch grew up with them, and I love you Mitch, but now that you caved and let me get "my" kinda tree, we are never going back!

Here is "my" kinda tree that we got this year!!! Before the decorating began!

Before I continue, I promised to share my FUN tree stand drama!!! Seriously, that thing had me almost in tears {Mitch too!}

Apparently, we lost our old tree stand too, in the move. So, we bought a new one, it was similar to our old one, the box said it was for trees up to 7 feet tall. Well ours is a little over 6 feet, so we thought "perfect".... ummm, wrong!!!! We struggled and struggled, screwing those stupid screws as tight as we could, trying so hard to get the tree to stand straight. Well, we thought we did a pretty good job. But I had to go and decide to touch the tree, it wasn't quite where little OCD me wanted it.

All of a sudden I was on the floor, and the tree was on top of me. Seriously! The tree FELL on me!!! It was funny, but Mitch, who had just spent over 1/2 hour under the tree twisting those dang screws was furious. He was yelling at me, asking why I had to touch it. Ummm, hello! I have to "touch" it to decorate it honey!

Well, we decided to try some more, after an hour, and nothing but a very wobbly tree, WE. WERE. DONE.

One of the stupid screws wouldn't even tighten anymore, I guess I stripped out the whatchamacallit! We put the stupid tree stand back in the box, drove back to the store {it was about 10 pm by them} and we spent a few more dollars, and bought the easy breezy {so the box said} sturdy looking stand.

This time, the box was right!!! I love our new tree stand. It makes me very very very HAPPY! Seriously, putting up the tree will never be the same again. I wonder if I'll miss the moaning and groaning that comes from Mitch's mouth ever year? nah! :o)

I FINALLY got to decorate my tree, hours and hours {and three trips to the store} later!

Here are a couple "during" pictures!

I always decorate my tree all by myself. I was shocked I was able to get Mitch to snap a few pictures of me doing it! It was as far as his participation went! Oh well, he'll be the one on the roof hanging lights on Tuesday! Heheee!

I spent hours decorating! But that is the fun part, and I didn't mind.I stayed up all night long! I really like my pretty tree!!! Wanna see?!

The only thing missing is the star on top! Oh and the presents underneath, hehehe! Here's a couple night time pictures, without the flash, to see the pretty colorful lights!

Falalalala, check out some of my favorite ornaments!

And I got this at Target, I couldn't resist! Too cute!!!

Even though Mitch didn't help, and fell asleep during the decorating process, Chumba was always right there to keep me company, and of course drive me crazy! He's managed to make a mess of my stuffed animals! Somehow, he thinks they are ALL his chew toys. Oh and Karma hides from him under the tree, so he thinks he's allowed to chase her behind it. It's a wonder it hasn't fallen over again, lol!!!

Here's my little Chummers, getting as close as he possibly can, without getting yelled at!

Last night at dinner the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" came on. Me and Mitch spent the whole dinner trying to remember what thing went with what day. I have a "The Twelve Days of Christmas" book, so we pulled out the book and sang it together when we got home, remembering all the words. We were laughing so hard, it was so much fun!

Anyways, I pulled another all nighter, so I'm going to bed now! I just kissed Mitch goodbye, as he left for work. And I'm getting a little tired! Happy Monday! :o)

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I LOVE yummy surprises!

2008-12-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

Do you have ANY idea the amount of restraint it took to NOT dive right into the yummy cake here? I went into the kitchen, and thought, mmmmmm, I'll have some cake. Then I quickly thought, wait! I wanna blog about my cake. And in order to blog about it, I need a picture before I eat it all! So I took the picture, ate {only part} of the cake, and now I'm eating a turkey sandwich and blogging about the cake!

OK, so the cake wasn't TOO fabulous, but Mitch bringing it home to me in what is usually a empty {and dirty} lunch dish was pretty darn cool! I think life would be grand if I sent him to work everyday with a delicious lunch, and he came back home every night with yummy desserts in the same dish!!! That would only seem fair right? Hehehe.

Since his lunch box was sitting there, I decided to show you the cool little front pouch, it was the deciding factor when buying the thing. Isn't it cool? With silverware, a cloth napkin, and salt and pepper shakers!!! You don't even know how many times I forgot to pack a fork. Plus he can season his own food! One less thing for me to worry about!!!

He begged me for a new lunch box after he got his new job. I kept packing his lunches in a tiny blue lunch box, that was better suited to my kind of lunch than his. Poor guy, all his coworkers kept teasing him about his purse lunchbox. Mean mean wife, kept sending him to work with it, day after day, forgetting that he desperately wanted a more manly way to take his lunch to work.

He would describe to me all the other guys "big" lunchboxes. Well, I finally got online, did my research {yes it required research} and found one I loved, and knew he would too. Then I searched and searched, determined to find it for the cheapest possible price. It took hours {yes, I'm THAT dedicated} but I finally found the lunchbox I wanted for the price I wanted to pay. I got my Picnic Time lunchbox at U Gotta Live. They had the best price, {and the best shipping price, by far!}

He waited patiently for a week for the thing to arrive. I made sure to ship it in his name too {he has this jealousy thing going on, about me getting "presents" in the mail, and him getting "nothing" EVER!} So his package finally came, and he was like a little kid at Christmas. He loves it!

Now his coworkers tease him about how "excited" he was about his new and much more manly lunchbox. Apparently, he showed it off to everyone!!! TOO CUTE!!! I really love my babers!!

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p.s. did you notice my "present" {as Mitch would say} in the picture? My Twilight book set came today! YAY!

I Wanna Wish You A Merry SITSmas!

2008-12-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

SO, I am kinda LATE this evening in getting this up, but...... between internet connection problems, sleeping in {the wind scares me, and I couldn't fall asleep, although I was VERY sleepy, don't laugh} and hanging with my hubby on his day off, it was kinda hard to post it earlier!

Better later than never!!!

The SITS girls are having a Merry SITSmas today, with lots of prizes and fun every hour all day long! How fun!!!

The grand prize is a $200 Target gift card, and a Friday Favorite feature on their blog! Seriously, TARGET!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that store! I was just there yesterday buying lots and lots of Christmas decorations!

SITS is fabulous! Without them I woulda never even know some of my favorite blogs existed! Like this, this, this, this, this and this one!

OK, all those this's look funny in a long row like that! He heeee!

It's 6:00, time to go see what's new this hour! Have a wonderful and happy holiday season! Thanks for stopping by!!! :o)

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p.s. Do you like my tree? I actually got the tree I wanted instead of "Mitch's charlie brown" tree he makes me get every year!!! I'll post more pictures later, and tell you all about my FRUSTRATING tree stand drama!!!

Following me is:Sporadic Cook

Merry SITSmas grand prize!

2008-12-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow The Secret is in the Sauce is having it's first annual Merry SITSmas! They will be giving away prizes every hour, and they just announced that the grand prize will be your blog featured as a Friday Favorite, and a $200 gift card for Target!!!

How super duper cool would that be to win that gift card??? If you want in on all the fun, head over there to find out all about it!

Happy December!!!

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Altered clock and other stuff...

2008-11-30T01:37:00.000-08:00

I have been blog SLACKING lately!!! Seriously, I have been so busy. And I have barely even made time to catch up on my blog reading list, let alone write about my crazy life!

I finished reading Twilight. I seriously LOVED the book! I ordered the 4 book collectors set, I got the whole thing {including} shipping for $35. I hope it comes soon. Although, I really need to do other stuff besides read ALL day long!

I also seen the movie. With Mitch. I thought he'd hate it. Well, he REALLY liked it. SERIOUSLY??? I have mixed feelings about it, but will buy it when it comes out on DVD, and watch it again. I've heard it is better the 2nd time around. That's understandable. Now that I know what happens, and how it compares to the book, I'll actually be able to relax and watch it. Instead of being all judgmental.

We had Thanksgiving the day BEFORE Thanksgiving. It was small, just me, Mitch, Sami and Justin. But it was my first one ALL by myself. YIKES! Everything turned out awesome! Mmmmmm mmmmm Yummy! Mitch made the turkey, well it was a group effort, but HE did all the ICKY stuff, and heavy lifting!

Crappy picture! Sami made me take pictures of our little feast, AFTER her and Mitcheal picked at it, LOL!!!

This has got to be the FULLEST my oven has ever been!

Don't look too close at how dirty it is inside my oven. Ewwww. Oh, and here is a picture of my full plate!!!

Now, it may not look like anything unusual to you. But.... if you knew me, you'd know that I never ever ever eat sweet potatoes, stuffing or cranberry sauce! Well, I ate it all!!!! I think it had to do with the fact that I made it, and I made it just the way I like it. Oh goodness, it was Yum Yum Yummy!

Oh and I made pumpkin cupcakes. Actually, I made Sami make them, while I did the peppercini wraps. Which was harder, because the cream cheese WOULD NOT freakin' spread!!! And the thin slices of turkey kept ripping. GRRR! But the cupcakes turned out sooo good! The recipe is over at Little Birdie Secrets.

OK, so before I head to bed, which I need to do VERY soon. Mitch begged me to come to bed tonight BEFORE 2 am. Hmmmm, getting close. I wanted to share my altered clock I made today. It is for my father in law, for Christmas. Here it is BEFORE!

And here it is AFTER!

He loves Harley Davidson. He has a shed in the yard that he keeps his in, and it is decorated inside with Harley stuff. Soooooo, I decided to alter a clock I had here in my studio. It looks way way better in real life. I designed the clock face in Adobe Photoshop Elements. Added brads. Then added the leather eyelet trim around the edges.

I really like the way it turned out. And it's handmade! Or semi-handmade, since it is altered. So it is keeping with my plans to do a handmade Christmas this year!!!

Anyways, it is 1:37, so I need to go to bed now! Good night!! :o)

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Chumba Stand

2008-11-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

In my last post I said I had a video of little Chummers to share. Since he was a pup, Mitch has been teaching him how to balance on his two back legs. He used to have to jump up on you to do it, but he slowly learned how to balance on his own, and now he doesn't even need anything to help him up. Mitch decided to call this a "Chumba Stand" and Chumba knows what it is, and will do it on command. It's sooooo cute!

He has also started doing "Chumba Stands" all on his own, like when he see's us coming back from the garage {where the treats are} or when he wants something that we have, like a bite of our dinner. He's sucha dork!!!

Here is the little cone head...

After gettin' his little self good and fixed on Tuesday, he got this cool cone to wear until he's all healed up! He almost got outta the vet without it, but silly puppers decided to lick his wound. He is adjusting to it! I really thought he'd be a whiner about the whole thing, but surprisingly, he has just kinda adjusted to it. Like the cone is now a part of him or something.

Check out how dirty it is.... ewwww yucky! The only sucky thing is that he can't seem to get his head into his food bowl to eat. So I have to tilt it up for him. But he gets all mad at me, cause he doesn't want help, and starts barking at me and the bowl, lol! So I gotta sneak my hand under the bowl, so he thinks he's doing it all by himself!!!

Anyways, one final thing before I go... my presents {I also promised to share}.

I told Mitch about two books I wanted to get, and asked him to see if he could check for one of them while at the grocery store. Well surprise! He got me both of them!

Amber had told me about "Marley and me" she said Chumba reminds her of Marley. So I am excited to read this book. It looks really good! I also got "Twilight". After hearing so many good things about this book, I gotta read it, and then go to see the movie! Actually both of these books are also movies! "Marley and me" comes out on Christmas! How exciting!!!

Anyways, it is about time to get dinner going. Mitch is on his way home! Have a great night!!!

Am I a nutjob??? Whadda ya think?

2008-11-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

Mitch looked at my pictures I took of MEEE, just goofing around last night after he went to bed, and said "you're a nutjob."

Well, that is a possibility! Heee heee! We went out on the town {I mean fed our money to the slot machines at the casino} And I was bummed that our night ended so early {and mad that the machines didn't even tease me a little with happy hopes of big, or heck, even little winnings} so I had to find something to entertain myself!!! I had even got all dressed up, I mean really dressed up in my favorite dress and awesomely cute high heels. Yeah, sorry, I only took silly and fun pictures, after I let my hair down. No full shot, awesome outfit pics. So I flipped on the webcam and clicked away!!! Fun times!

Anywho, here is a sampling of my funnnnnn solo photo shoot.... I know you were just dying to see!! :o)

Soooo, whadda ya think??? Am I a nutjob like Mitch says? Come on, you know this post was fun fun fun to read.

OK, Ouch!!!! Chumba is splitting my head in two with his LOUD and constant barking at his newly found squishy ball he "discovered" in our couch cushion {we had never seen it before, ever! It was still in the plastic wrapper too, Ca-Razy.} Tylenol, here I come!!! Oooh, and I got a video of him today, soooo cute. I'll post it later gater.

Right now I'm gonna make my hubby dinner, caouse he got me presents {more on that later too!}

I am HAPPY!!!

Happy Birthday Chumba

2008-11-16T14:02:00.000-08:00

Little pain in the butt pups is 1 today! I have a love hate relationship with my adorable little terror of a doggy.

I'm the one that "had" to have him at the pet store. Mitch really wanted a new basset hound, but I thought it was "too soon" since we lost Bongo. After only 3 months I wasn't really ready to love a new dog. But Mitch kept asking {well begging and begging for a new dog} So we went to look...

Well, after several visits to the pet store they had a new basset hound in the back... he had just arrived and hadn't even had his grand entrance into the main part of the store yet.

We had seen other basset hounds, but when we seen this one, we just knew we had to have him. His little tail wagged, and he got so excited when we held him. And he looked at us with this sweet look that said "take me home, I belong to you". When we had to go, he cried and cried, we could hear him all the way to the front door. Me and Mitch talked and even though "he" was the one that wanted a puppy soooo much more than me, "I" am the one that had to talk him into getting this little guy.

A few days and $482.06 later, he was ours. Here he is when we first brought him home!

He was such a little cutie pie, and he had the hardest time climbing those stairs. He was a little whiner too!!! Mitch decided to name him Chumba. We spoiled the little guy, and gave him lots of love and attention, and tried to earn his love and trust, while we worked VERY hard to potty train him.

Chumba chews everything, as anyone who visits my blog often knows. His latest "favorite" chew toy is my bedding. Yep, sheets, pillow cases, bed skirt, all shredded. He still whines and barks when he doesn't get what he wants. He even got the cops called once for barking too late at night. He thinks he is the king of the house, and no amount of training, attention, discipline or exercise that we have tried has changed him one little bit.

My final two hopes are (1) that he grows out of it! and (2) that he will mellow out once he gets fixed. Well wish me luck... today he is a little bit older, lol! And on Tuesday he finally gets fixed!!! We weren't able to afford it before, with everything that has happened this year. But Mitch got a Christmas bonus, and more than half is going to Chumba care!!!

Despite his stubborn craziness, and my despair over my poor chewed up belongings, I LOVE Chumba. At just one year old he has learned to love and trust both me and Mitch, while making himself a happy little home in our hearts! Happy Birthday Chumba!!!

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Thankful Thursday

2008-11-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Thursday, my favorite day of the week! Today...

***I am thankful for my 3 little sisters, Laura, Danetta and Samantha. They are always there for me when I need them. I can confide in them, and they also trust me with their own secrets, hopes and dreams. Without them I wouldn't be a big sister, without them I wouldn't be an Aunt, and without them I'd be pretty darn lonely. They are my best friends! I love them with all my heart!***

Have a FABULOUS day! :o)

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Corseted Can Covers

2008-11-12T15:49:00.000-08:00

I love looking at other peoples houses... seeing how they decorate. And I especially love looking in their studios. Seeing all the pretty ways they organize the same supplies that I have. Which is why I bought the "Studios" issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. The very last article was a how to, on corseted can covers.

They looked sooo cute! So I decided to make some of my own, for my little desk in my living room. I used old corn cans, and painted them white. I LOVE the way they turned out!

Now my desk has something quite pretty to sit on top of it! And I have a handy dandy place to keep my pens {downstairs} they used to always get lost.... but not anymore!

These adorable cans can even be used as vases!!! For real or fake flowers {like mine, lol!}

Although, I must admit, I won't really be using any of these as a vase... All the items in these pretty cans are just props from my studio, until I go to the store next week and buy brand spankin' new pens and stuff to "perfectly" match my living room! Cause yeah, I'm a freak like that!

Anyways, I'm super excited to finally have these done, I slacked for weeks! Thanks Megan Lapp, and Studios Magazine for a great idea! Hope you all have a FANTASTIC day! :o)

Cold weather and warm brownies... mmm mmm good!

2008-11-07T00:49:00.000-08:00

Brrrr... it's not really cold in my house {with the heater on}, but my feetsies are COOOOLD!!! And my dog being a pee machine tonight that refuses to stay out and do his business unless I LEAVE the freaking door open, isn't helping matters!!!

I made brownies tonight. They are the easy from the box kind, I wanted something quick, but they are still YUMMY! And they made my house smell "oh so good" while they were getting all done in the oven! Mmmmmmmm. I EVEN cut them up and put them on a plate this time! Such an improvement from my brownie cookie bars! LOL! They made it outta the pan see?

Wooo Hooo! LOL! Yeah, I already ate like 3 of them, warm brownies with a cold glass of milk, yum!

Since I've already mentioned my crazy dog, I wanted to also share a picture I took of Chumba the other day, he was sleeping on the stairs. Literally, on the stairs.

Too funny! I was waiting for him to roll over, and ALL the way down to the bottom, he did that once {only down like 2 stairs though} when he was a little pup. It cracked us up. Notice the bits of chewed up toilet paper roll on the stair next to him?? Yeah, he knows how to make the lid go up on the trash can, and finds lotsa {often yucky} new chew toys in there! He is sucha little weirdo dog. :o)

Anywho, I'm gonna go catch up on House {my DVR is getting quite FULL!} Good night!

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