more ribbon

Jill told me I should post a photo of my ribbon racks for those of you who haven't seen my studio. In case you're wondering, I usually do what Jill tells me to. : ) If you haven't seen my room, don't plan on it for quite awhile yet. Right now it looks like a tornado came through. Seriously. Gradually I'm making my way through different sections of it while Eva naps. Today I rearranged some of the shelves in the built-in unit and put my idea books in there. It's a small task, but every bit helps!

ta-da!

Last night I finished another of the projects on my list of things to get organized in my scrap studio: all those loose lengths of ribbon that have been piled around on my desk, hidden away in sacks, etc. So now in addition to my racks of ribbon on spools, I have this lovely box of ribbon. Thanks to those of you who have already done this and inspired me to switch from my previous method of winding ribbon on gift-wrap cardboard tubes. This is so much more compact and portable, not to mention easy on the eyes! And best of all, I did it all while watching my favorite TV shows at night. If you have any great ideas for organizing that I should be aware of, please pass them on...

chunk-a-lunk

That's just one of our nicknames for our chunky little Eva. Also chubbub, tiny e, and sugar pie. I took her to the doctor for her nine-month checkup yesterday and found out that she's gone down in her percentiles in the last three months. (Apparently very common once they start crawling and pulling themselves up and generally being very active.) Anyway, she is now only in the 5th percentile for height (following after her grandmother Susan, no doubt!) and the 10th percentile for weight. It's hard for me to believe that these chunky thighs -- we call them ham hocks -- can belong to a baby in the 10th percentile. What in the world do those 90th percentile babies look like?! And if our chubbub is only in the 10th, you can only imagine how her little cousin Bella will fall off the charts. She can't even keep her pants up...

monday weigh-in

Monday is a day of accountability for me: the day I weigh myself and see how I'm progressing toward my goal. I lost 1.8 pounds last week -- I had hoped for more, but realistically, since Marc made his famous peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies last night, I guess I'm lucky to have lost that much at all. (Resistance to these cookies is futile. I ate three of them last night and one for breakfast this morning.) So my total lost since I started on January 5th is a whopping 6 pounds. Not bad, but that leaves me with 14 more to lose in just over 5 weeks to meet my goal. Not impossible, but not easy, either. Wish me luck!

faith

I got to attend Relief Society today! The last time was about three weeks ago. Our lesson was about faith. The teacher made a diagram of a faith cycle that I really liked. I only wish I had a scanner or knew how to show it to you. I guess I'll just have to describe it. It starts out with FAITH or the desire to have faith, which leads to TRUTH and our efforts to study/learn, which then leads to greater OBEDIENCE and a refining of our characters, which finally leads to EVIDENCE, which can manifest itself in peace, comfort, or other blessings. Finally, it goes back around to an increase in FAITH, only now our faith is greater, so the circle is enlarged. Pretty cool, huh? Also, a couple of other thoughts: Our faith also grows by remembering what the Lord has done for us and for others. We cannot be given superior blessings without a trial of our faith to prove us. (this last was paraphrased from Brigham Young) I guess the difficult thing is that often righteous decisions and actions have long-term rewards rather than immediate benefits, so we have to have faith that those rewards will come in time. I always think that I have faith, but I was reminded today that faith is a principle of action. Since I so often don't act on what I know I need to, maybe I don't have as much faith as I thought... so many things to work on to improve myself.

a good day's work

Today I got to check three things off my ever-present to do list: make a menu plan, go grocery shopping, clean out fridge. It did take nearly all day, but it's highly satisfying nonetheless. I just love the beginning of the month (when we get paid); then I can go and stock up on all the things that we need, which is usually quite a lot! I feel a certain sense of security when the pantry is well-stocked and the refrigerator is filled with good things. Even better is that I know I have all I need to make many good meals. I took a photo of my sparkling clean, organized fridge because it's a reflection of my happy accomplishment. You can all go and laugh at me now.

small pleasures

Check out these new shoes I got for $10 at Target! Just looking at them lifts my mood. The only problem is that I like them even better when I'm not wearing them because then I can see the cute polka-dot interior! There's not much that makes me happier than polka dots.

scrapbook studio organization part I

Now that the holidays are over, Eva's recovered and sleeping and I'm feeling oh so much better, I'm finally working on overhauling the nightmarish state of my studio. Whenever she naps, I head downstairs to clear through some of the rubble. The first project I tackled was reorganizing my 12x12 paper. I bought some Cropper Hopper vertical storage units when Pebbles was having their birthday sale, and I finished putting it all away last night. I must say I'm liking it much better than my previous box with hanging file folders. I'm also working on a ribbon box at night (will post a photo when that project is finished). What will the next project be? I think I'll get working on the idea books. Oh the joy!

cutest cousins

Jessie and Bella stopped by today and fortunately Eva woke up from her nap before they had to leave. It's so fun to watch them interact -- they often try to take one another's binkies and toys, or even use each other to stand up. Usually Eva ends up trying to crawl over Bella in her attempts to get as close as possible. They're only three weeks apart and they are about the same height, but Eva is so chunky and Bella is so so skinny! I'm so glad that Eva has a cousin so close to her in age, especially since there's such a gap between her and her brothers!

creepy dream

Whenever I get up around 6:00 to feed Eva (almost every day) and go back to sleep for awhile, I have strange dreams. (Jill, you may want to stop reading now.) This time I was vacuuming and then the vacuum stopped working. So I turned it off and turned it over to see if something was stuck in the bottom. I was startled when I saw a red rubber spider that was about 4 inches in diameter. Then I started laughing, thinking Lucas put it somewhere to try to scare me. Then it scurried away!! Not rubber! It made my skin crawl and then I was at a loss, because this giant red spider was on the loose in my house and I didn't know where it had gone. Eew.