Too much to do & too little time!!

Stuck at home w/a sick kid. Trying to make the most of it & get some housework done...

A to-do list for myself;
laundry (Amber's, mine, towels & bedding, etc)
Complete closet project in our bedroom
get Amber's clothes & stuff put away
Pick up living & dining rooms
Prep recycling
burn picture CDs for family
Start work on guest bedroom...

That should keep me busy for at least a week!

Summer Swaperoo!

I got a box! Layla has to check out the box... It came from Lyndsey in Utah! :)


As I start to pull out the goodies, both cats have to check things out...


Leela thinks there are some interesting smells in there. I loved that the whole box smelled of cranberry-mandarin candles & mango lotion! :)


Leela thought the box was perfect for sitting in...


Amber tries on her sunglasses... Perfect! This was my favorite part b/c we NEEDED some for her!


Now Layla decides to sit in the box! As you can see, it took me a while to get to the bottom of things!


This cute plaque matched Amber's decor perfectly! How'd she know??


A picnic for two!


Not these two!! :P


So, all in all I got the daughter plaque, the red, white & blue hanging plaque, three wooden blocks that spell USA on one side & SUN on the other, two placemats, four cups & four plates, 16 candles, two magnetic pads of paper for planning, baby sunglasses & a sample lotion! :D

Extra bonus; I'd been looking all over the house for a box the right size to ship my package for JoDell & none were quite right, but this box was just about perfect! So I re-used it! :) I sent it at the last minute :/ but I spent the extra dollar for priority mail, so it should get there in a couple days. :)

In other news, Amber's had a nasty cough, so we went to the dr., but she said it's ok, it's just a cold & that we could use grown-up Vick's on her since all the baby Vick's has lavender in it... which I'm allergic to.
I randomly got sick this morning and then had no other symptoms all day... so, unlikely as it is, I'm going to take a pregnancy test in the morning & another the next morning, just to be sure...
Work is kinda different with no classes going on, but I have plenty to do to prepare for the fall.
I've made a few necklaces lately, hopefully I'll get a chance to post some pics later.
Memorial Day weekend had roleplaying on Friday for Paul, a little birthday celebration for our Egyptian exchange student on Saturday and my baby sister's HS graduation on Sunday! That was a day & a half. My mother-in-law stayed the night & we went out for lunch. Otherwise we spent Monday organizing our closet/setting things aside for our garage sale and relaxing. :)

Still livin'

I gave up most of my facebook time for Lent, but I guess I didn't do so good in that I created this blog instead and now that I'm not limiting my facebook usage as severely I'm neglecting the blog...
Paul & Amber & I just got back from a big trip! We went to Traverse City, MI for Paul's cousin's wedding, but we made a couple stops along the way there & back to visit more family & friends. We were gone for five days (a friend stayed & watched the house, cats & my snake.) A lot of "firsts" for Amber. First night in a hotel; first time meeting her aunt & uncle & cousins from PA in person; first time out of the state; first wedding attended; first time in a swimming pool.... etc...
She still isn't too fond of her carseat & there were some rough times while driving in unfamiliar territory with a screaming baby, but on the whole it was a nice trip. :)
Back to work today. I'm actually not looking forward to it. There's been a lot of confusion over this one thing, and I've been gone a week & a half (Amber was sick before we left, so I just took the week off so we wouldn't have to pay the daycare for two weeks when we'd be getting less than one.) so I'm going to have to get back in the swing of things. I really do love my job & my co-workers, but some mornings I kinda wish I'd gone stay-at-home Mom.

Funny, ten years ago I figured I'd be working on a doctoral degree by now and here I have little education beyond my bachelor's and I've given thought to staying home! I don't think there's anything wrong with either option, just funny how divergent they seem & how I've changed & how I haven't.

OK, writing down a to-do list for myself; unpack, laundry, put things away, drop off recycling, work on putting stuff together for my summer swaperoo, and work on the craft projects I've started... need to clean the snake's cage, like weeks ago... :/ and prepare for this weekend, people coming over Friday night, celebrating our Egyptian exchange student's birthday on Sat & going down to my sister's HS graduation on Sun (hour-long drive)...

Easter pics

I've felt very blah & behind on sleep all week after my bout of food poisoning. I'm hoping this weekend will help me recharge, but last night certainly didn't. The cats woke us up at 3:30 (us being me & the baby, my husband had already been woken up & was downstairs) and Amber woke up again around 5, then again at 6, we went & bugged her daddy around 7:30. She's playing happily downstairs while I try to get some breakfast, pump, etc while listening to her (& now Daddy too...and now TV as well) on the monitor.

Looks like there may be some issues with my layout... dunno what to do, I'll publish & see how it looks & if anyone can help me out, please do!
Update - I changed the layout & this works... I was going to have a couple of the pictures set to the left & right instead of just in a row down the center, but it did weird things & overlapped the pictures.










And a couple collages I made with pictures of the eggs we dyed;

Are there any songs about Tuesdays?

My Swaperoo stuff!




Baby shoes - anyone know more than me about the sizing? I couldn't figure it out before I bought them... now that I have them they say size 1 (what I got) is for 6weeks to three months (which is how old she is now) but she'll be 5 months old when we need these - do I need to exchange for a size 2? They look kinda big to me...



I officially don't like the photo uploader on here... I'm really tired this morning. I think I'll do Easter pics later...

Another promise

For a longer post later. Babysat our friends' daughter tonight so they could go out to celebrate the mom's birthday. :)
Can't get my computer to cooperate & upload the pics, so those'll wait. Got my package from the swap today & had lots of fun goodies! Also got baby shoes in the mail that I hope will fit Amber in May for Paul's cousin's wedding & my sister's graduation.
So, pics of Easter, pics of my swap, pics of baby shoes & the dresses for those events... one I got & one I made. :)
But, once again, it's bedtime! G'night!

Happy Easter - after the fact

Most of our weekend was really nice, but I got quite ill after dinner this evening. I suspect food poisoning, so hopefully I'm over it. Much too late now. night! More later...