Ever fallen in love....

with someone you'd never met and didn't really even know? Well, i have, just 2 days ago and now i'm addicted to this 8 month old, sweet little boy. I've added a link to my blog on the left-hand side and it says "pray for stellan". to read about his story and struggle with SVT click here - the blogging mama and photographer has an amazing blog and you will get to read about stellan's condition. He has been in the hospital the last week and for 3 days his heartbeat was racing at over 230 beats per minute. This baby has been through hell the last few days and the family is asking for prayers for wisdom for the doctors and family, for his heart to come out of svt, and hope. They also courageously, in this time of fear, ask you to donate to other causes, pray for all the babies in PICU or NICU ...all of the things we fail to think about when our own families are so healthy. They are currently contemplating a air transport to Boston for a possible ablation which could result in a permenant, 100% pace-maker for this sweet 8-month old baby. All of the details are further explained on her site. You can follow detailed updates on her Twitter account here. The story is very moving - I kept feeling the need to post about and continue stretching the prayer chain.....what can i say - i fell in love.

the Beach!!!

Austin patiently waiting for us as we drag his brother up the beach..

Some major eye candy today! Last week we went to the beach - very early one morning - around 7:00 am - low tide to look for shells. I think we hit the wrong beach because we didn't find anything spectacular, but we got some great pictures - and in the end - that is all that matters!

sandy toes and feet!

Ty-bear is pouting because he is tired and doesn't want to walk anymore so he just plopped down and threw a fit - gotta love those terrible 2's...

mr. determined

hunting for food

Mr. Crabs-- we thought it was a shell and dug this out instead!

running on the beach - low tide is great - everything is packed down!

austin and mommy!

ready to hunt shells!

another foggy picture! the lens fogged up when i took the cap off because of the cool weather so early! it made for a nice mask!

We are going to try shelling again this week (wed. or thurs.) and hit sanibel island - hope to get up and around a little earlier and find some better shells....i'll keep you posted!!

oh no - waterfall in the foyer!

well it was a peaceful afternoon - baby sleeping and I was doing some work on the computer while austin was playing and then I hear this splashing sound coming from the foyer area...i looked at Austin and said "what is that?" and run into the entryway - there is water pouring out of the can lighting and the smoke alarm?!? omg, right? In a slight panic I stand there dumbfounded then throw down a *clean* beach towel and run to the phone to call my husband...

He of course can't comprehend what i'm talking about at first...then he says - don't worry I'll be right home. in the meantime I find a small trash can and start collecting over a gallon of water and put all 4 *clean* beach towels down! Finally, after about 20 minutes the rain, i mean leak, stops.

Now...we are on the first floor of a condo / coach home. There are 4 college boys that live above us...we ring their doorbell (3 times) and they finally answer and act like they cannot even understand the words that are coming out of our mouths!

the conversation went something like this:
"uh, dude, we like just got home, I don't know if anything is leaking....or overflowing....um - do you want us to like go check or something and let you know??" How do you keep from responding something such as "No, you moron, move over and I will come in and check for myself!?" We suggest - did someone just take a shower or did you possibly have a keg, I mean toilet, overflow? their response: "um, i'm not sure, i just got home"

okay this conversation is obviously going nowhere....fyi: we are calling the association and they may be knocking on your door to check your shower drain!

fast forward 40 minutes, the fire / water restoration team is here -- the wall is obviously damp, hence the water spot on the wall as well as the ceiling - so I get 2 drying fans and a dehumidifier...it is yet to be determined if the drywall will need replaced.

Oh yeah and I'm supposed to hang out and wait for the frat boys to take another shower to determine the source of this leak....

fun times for sure!

Going to the Beach!!

Just finished up the new beach bag! I have been using an old diaper bag to take to the pool / beach and it just isn't big enough for 2-3 towels, pool toys, goggles, snacks and drinks. Plus it was a little frumpy looking....thought I would use this awesome bright yellow waterproof fabric for the liner and dress it up a bit on the outside - it is seriously enormous!!

the hanging view!

the side view

the front view!

I took this last picture because i know it's hard to determine dimensions by looking at it on the floor...so I tried to show it in proportion to me - it is HUGE!!! Beach: here we come!!! I can't wait to use it!!!

can't live without.....

COFFEE.......and man...my coffee pot needs to be cleaned....










I have been promising some picks of our new diggs...here is the view out our dining room / lanai window! It is lovely....i took some others of the living / dining area - really the only rooms almost organized enough to take pics! we are still unpacking some misc. stuff that we can't find the perfect place for yet....

the kitchen and dining area

i'm standing in the 'formal dining area' in this picture taking a view of the living room / kitchen. Since we felt we needed some sort of dedicated 'guest' room in this house we left the den open for that. Which left me in need of a studio area...since we have *no* use really for a formal dining area that would hardly get used (i'm not the 'big' meal kind of gal!) we decided to use it for my studio. I would have rathered had a closed off area to retreat to - but this works as well - i do get to spend more time with the family while i'm creating. i haven't taken pics of it yet - it was a little messy as i'm in the middle of a project!

the living room - not yet finished - the great debate (tv - on the wall or on the stand, vote now!)

some Florida fun....


one of my tan blondies.....

dare you....

I dare you to do a mini-book this month - do it on summer, vacation, stay-cation, an event you've strived for, a brief overview of the year so far, or as a gift for someone else....

recently I did one for doug for father's day - i wanted to do something unique and he had been training so hard for his tri-athalons that I thought a re-cap would be appropriate....after all striving to be healthy and strong is part of being a great dad!

Here are the pictures of my book - I used two 6x6 plastic covers by zutter (bind-it-all) and then used 1 patterned paper by basic grey and then solid matching cardstock for the rest of the pages. I wanted to keep it bright and fun! Everything else i used was stuff I already had in my stash. I then binded it together with the Zutter and added ribbon...

I really wanted to put tri-hard*er* .... but didn't thing that was so nice!

I did the half-circle to allow the patterned paper to show through to the cover

Tried playing with different mediums like paint, rub-ons, and ribbon

I tend to hand-journal everything (mainly to save time) so I really want to step-out and use some of my letter stickers



When I took these photo's I knew I would be doing something special with them...so I tried to capture a lot of 'texture or landscape' photos at the events...things to remember..pics of the bike / the transition area / the medals / the results / any funny signs or props, etc...they came in handy when trying to fill the pages

I also used some epoxy stickers from love, elsie....snuck some rhinestones in there at the end as well!

I hope you liked it and you create your own - send me pics of yours or a link to where it is posted...

until next time * the mini-book queen (as i've been previously deemed!)

Camera's: Large or small?

Okay - here comes my great debate...i couldn't wait to have a nice, professional, 'large' camera to take fantastic pictures...ultimately saving us the time, trouble and money for needing professional pics taken of our kids...

so i got it, still don't know how to use all parts of it, but love it dearly. the problem, of course, is it is a huge pain to tote around in addition to 2 adventurous boys and all of their things. it doesn't easily fit into my purse and if it does it is ultra bulky. It just isn't great for toting around everyday to take those spontaneous 'shots' we all love to have.

so - the question is - do i go invest more money in a 'pocket' size camera that doesn't take as great of pics but is easier to take with me literally everywhere? now i'll have 2 sources i need to download and catalog - when believe me i have enough trouble with one! but, i'm likely to have more pictures to play with.

example at hand: i've been meaning to get pics of the kids at the pool...but it is a constant 95 degrees here daily - i really hate lugging the big nikon bag on the walk to the pool in addition to my beach bag, stroller, life jacket / noodles, oh yeah and my 6 year old on the bike. I'm also afraid of leaving it in the heat for the 1-2 hours we are there...probably not good for it? hence, no pics of florida yet!

okay - give me some feedback....maybe go really cheap on the pocket camera, but don't miss out on 'any' shots. then use the nikon when we are doubling up on the kids (i.e. doug and i can both be there) one to take the camera back home once we are done - or just carry the huge thing!

i know these are not 'really' problems....just thoughts rolling in my brain!

look out for the 'i dare you to do a summer mini-book' challenge coming soon.

love to all - s.

berber vs. carpet???

i know it has been forever....for those of you who might not know, we just moved to Florida about 10 days ago! A surprising, yet very exciting move....something we have talked about for a few years now, but finally the stars aligned and it seemed a perfect thing to do. Doug, is back in a field he loves and is passionate about and the boys and I are soaking up the sun and surf! I am continuing to get settled and get slowly back into the creating groove and still busy making cloth diapers for a great friend which you can find here.

I have been more into this facebook craze lately, leaving me little time to blog and fb....and keep up with my other favorite blogs...but i believe it is easier to post pics here and talk about creative things, so i'm trying to keep it going more regularly - and yes, i know i've said that before!

so, i am busy vacuuming right now -which is probably why i thought i'd do a blog post, i will do almost anything to keep away from cleaning! i'm pondering why i have more real estate to vacuum and why i have had to dump my bagless vacuum 2 times already from just our living area....did we turn into major pigs and slobs once we moved to Florida?? is it that much dirtier here than indiana?? or is it carpet versus the berber i had at home?? First off, we went from a 2-story to a large ranch style home...so i'm thinking i used to split up the first floor one day and the 2nd floor the next so it never seemed like much vacuuming....we have more 'open' space here as well. so i'm vacuuming the entire house all at once (more dirt) and omg this regular carpet thing sheds like a golden retriever would...holy carpet fuzz???

so cons of berber....it melts really quickly when you drop an iron on it, it isn't the softest carpet, sometimes lacks dimension (compared to the nice shag carpet). pros of berber....holds up really well, if you get a 'multi-color' blend everything from coffee, playdough, kool-aid, yogurt blends in rather nicely and there is no need to get the entire stain out - making life with kids really easy!

so far my cons of carpet - sheds like a 100-lb. golden, cream color shows stains ratehr easily (although none of ours yet), not sure on the wear and tear....pros - it is very cushiony and does add more a homey feeling....althought not as even as berber when installing 3 sets of ladder shelves next to each other....

okay - i know a rather odd and boring post, but we have to start somewhere right? sad, but true, i've only taken 2 pictures since being here....i promise - soon they will come...maybe another post about pros and cons of a massive nikon d80 versus a small pocket camera.....

comment if you would still like to read posts from me in the future! let me know you are out there!

sara