Take *THAT* technology!

Bah... I know *exactly* how the "Office Space" guys feel.  I've spent the past two hours trying to update this blog.  One thing's for sure... I need to learn some more about all of this stuff.  If I could beat the living crud out of HTML, I'd be swinging a baseball bat right this second.  How frustrating.  I have a feeling I might try my hand at all this editing again someday... just not tonight.  The nerves can only handle so much.

Shamelessly Showing Off....

My little man.  He's almost 7 months now & gosh, he's fun.  He's constantly cracking us up.  Since I've gotten my new camera, I've been following him around like the paparazzi taking pictures of him.  He seems unphased by it so far.  I'm hoping he adapts to seeing his mother with a lens attached to her face at least 50% of the time.

Hud loves loves LOVES to eat.  He started on solid foods & he just can't get enough.  One of my friends got us this "Nibbler Bag" which I lovingly refer to as his "Feed Bag."  I chop up some banana pieces, stick 'em in the mesh bag, twist on the handle & away he goes.  Hudson LOVES this thing.  It lets him feed himself without making a mess....well, too much of a mess anyway. 

My grandma likes to feed Hudson.  She even likes to feed him things he's not supposed to have.  Hud is her first Great-Grandbaby.  And she doesn't spoil him at all.  {Insert eye-roll here.}  This is what happens when I say, "I don't think he needs any peppermint."  "Oh, just a taste," she says.  And then I stand there snapping pictures of the whole thing.    To my surprise, he actually really liked the peppermint.  Who am I kidding?  It's food.  Of course he likes it.  Ahh, tis the season, I suppose.

Speaking of 'the season,' it's stinkin' cold outside!  I don't ever remember a December that was THIS cold.  Holy moly & the wind?!?  Yeesh.  I have to seriously bundle this baby up just to lug him out to the car.  Luckliy, we're equipped with a hefty supply of warm (& adorrrrable) hats for the Huddy Buddy.  This is his "Fargo" hat--complete with fuzzy lining & ear flaps.  ♥

I've never seen a baby who loves getting a bath as much as this little guy.  He is ecstatic as soon as he hears the water running!  His little chubby legs start kicking & his rolly-polly little arms start flapping.  He's tried several times to lurch himself into his tub while I'm still undressing him.  I swear, this kid must be part fish.

Ahh, yes.  That's my baby.  Cute, huh.  I do believe we'll keep him.  ♥

Never Have I Ever...

What's up with his pants?  And what are those penguins doing by a pond?

"Mary Poppins-The Musical" is coming to Pittsburgh next month.  I'm sure there are oodles of folks who are just thrilled about this.  I'm not one of those people.  You see, I've never seen "Mary Poppins."  Ever.  I still have no idea why there are penguins involved in the commercials.  I read a book in elementary school called Mr. Popper's Penguins... but I have a feeling it's unrelated.  Friends of mine are shocked to find out that I've never really ever sat down and watched it.  They're even more shocked to find out the other "standards" that have never graced my presence.  I have a feeling that my parents had a Julie Andrews/Dick Van Dyke aversion.  It's strange that most of their films never made it into our VHS player when I was growing up.  Maybe my mom & dad have something against musicals.  Whatever the case may be, I feel a little lost.  I have no clue what really goes on in these classics.
Probably the most shocking unseen-by-me film is "The Sound of Music."  I'm all about studying about WWII & forgoodnesssake, the hub & I met in a Holocaust class of all places!  Until just this year, I had no idea that the movie had anything to do with Nazis.  (Who puts Nazis in a musical?!?) For the last 26 years, I seriously thought the entire film was based upon Julie Andrews running around in a field singing her head off about the hills and how they were alive.  And those kids... are they orphans?  Oh, wait that was Annie, right?  Yet another classic I haven't seen.  For the longest time, I assumed Daddy Warbucks was some chain restaurant's advertising persona... kinda like Colonel Sanders.  "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is another film that I've never seen.  I know the chorus to the title track.  That's about it.  Oh, and the car flies.  Don't ask me how, though.
For the love....f you're going to see Mary Poppins the Musical or if you've seen the movie-- can you just tell me just what exactly those penguins are doing?

Don't get me wrong here.  I ♥ love♥ musicals.  "Guys & Dolls," "Bye, Bye Birdie," "West Side Story," "Wicked," "Newsies"-- all at the top of my list.  I'm thinking some day I'm actually going to need to sit down & watch these movies I've never seen.  Maybe I'll make my parents watch them with me.  You know what they say about payback.

PS: Have I mentioned that I never ate a PB&J sandwich until I was in tenth grade?  Seriously.  Please fill me in if there are other "typical kid" things I need to cross of my list.

Oh there's no place like Shutterfly for the Holidays...

Attention all bloggers! I have an awesome deal to share with you! Shutterfly is currently doing a promotion where you can receive 50 free cards by promoting their site on your blog. All you need to do is do a post about what you plan to do this year for Christmas cards or about favorite cards you have done in the past, follow a few simple rules, and ta-da! 50 free cards!


Check on their site, because there's so much you can do - design your own Christmas photo cards, holiday cards, and even calendars and photo books.  I do love Shutterfly's photo books.  They make fabulous gifts! 

The great thing about Shutterfly is that there's something for everyone.  These are my personal favorites from their 2010 holiday collection.

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/mod-ornaments-holiday-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93491

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/holiday-love-sketch-christmas-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93491

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/snow-globe-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&storeNode=93491

Now, what are you waiting for?  Head on over to Shutterfly to check out their cards and enter all of your blog info here: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/!  Be sure to blog about it & submit everything here: http://blog.shutterfly.com/5528/2010-holiday-card-collection1/

Happy Shutterfly-ing!  Enjoy your 50 free cards!

I'm dreaming of an *organized* Christmas.....

If you know me at all, you are fully aware of the fact that I am *not* the world's most organized person.  I like to say that there's a method to my madness.  {Hey, if you ask me where the other black boot to match the one in my closet, I'd be more than happy to tell you that it's under the bed, slightly to the left of a striped sock.  See.  Told ya--method.}
Well, we're having Christmas at our house again this year... Tyler's fam, my fam... the whole fam!  I'm pretty excited, but I remember being incredibly stressed out last year & I was looking for a way to avoid that whole frazzled look this season.  I came across a nifty little Christmas planner at Eighteen25.  I loved the idea & decided to tweak a few things & make my own.  Eighteen25 used a compostion notebook.  I'm more of a "type it out" kinda gal rather than a "write it down" kinda gal, so I used a 1" three-ring binder from Wal*Mart & printed everything out.  I'm pretty thrilled with it, if I do say so myself.  Here's how it all turned out!  {Yes, I realize I could do all of this on an Excel spreadsheet or even in just a plain old notebook... but this way is so much more fun!!!}
Ahh, I've been so in love with digital scrapping, I forgot what it was like to actually cut paper & attach things to it.  Got all my spiffy scrapbook paper & stickers at Scrapbook station. 

Here's the cover...

This is the inside pocket.  It's where I'll keep catalogs, flyers & ad filled with gift ideas.  {Note the super-sweet little countdown sticker I added.  Yup, ♥ that.}

Tabs to let you know what's inside... These were super easy to print out using the Avery Tab dividers.  Another fabulous Wal*Mart find. 

I added my Christmas Card address list {Not posting a photo since everyone's full names & addresses are on there.}  I just made a table using Microsoft Word.  Easy peasy.  I have a column for the names, one for the addresses & also a place to check off "sent" & "received."

Weekly calendar pages printed from CalendarLabs to keep track of all the holiday festivities & our usual suff too.  I printed out pages for Nov. 28 all the way through Jan 1, 2011,

Don't you just hate it when you try to do some early Chrismas shopping & you end up forgetting what you've already bought?  I've done this plenty of times...so I'm glad I included "The List" in my planner.  Notice that it's blank for the moment.  I've done plenty of early shopping... just didn't want any peering little eyes to find out what they're getting this year. :)

Since the festivities will be at our place this year, that means I'm in charge of figuring out what we'll be eating.  I found this menu idea at Organized Christmas.  It lets me see what all we're having & who's making it.  Love, love, love this idea.  ♥

Also included under this tab is a way-cool grocery list {who knew that existed?}  I used one of these babies for the first time the other day when I went to Giant Eagle.  Made my shopping experience SO much more relaxed.  I didn't have a hodge-podge list of this, that & the other thing & I wasn't calling Tyler at home to see if we needed milk, or ketchup or baby wipes.  Everything's listed the way you'd find it in the store.  I found this idea at MomReady.com & tweaked it for us & things we normally buy (oh, and I made the font super-cute too).

The next two parts are awesome.  I've become quite a coupon-clipper lately & I love that I can stash all of my gift-coupons in one spot.  Also, it's fancy.  Woo woo.  To make it, I got some small manilla envelopes at the Dollar Tree & double-stick-taped them to the divider.  Simple as that.

I'm not the best at keeping track of receipts & I'd feel horrible if someone wanted to return a gift I got them... but couldn't because I'd thrown the darn receipt away.  (Seriously, though... I give *ahh-mazingly* thoughtful gifts.  Who would want to return them!?!?)  This is the place to stick those little slips of paper... just in case.  Follow the same instructions as the coupon pocket.

And there you have it,  Hopefully this will come in handy & mak this stressful time of year just a little bit easier! 

Am I the only one who....

Yeesh... has it been over a MONTH since I've blogged?  Now that Hudson's more mobile (rolling e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e), I haven't found as much time to do all the blogging I'd like.  This is fairly random, but hey, sometimes random is good, right?  Right. 

So, am I the only one who....

...would rather change eleven poopy diapers than do a sink-full of dishes

...does not understand Twitter at all. 

...can't ever remember how to spell: available, diarrhea & definitely.

...thinks Mr. Noodle from Elmo's World and Cat from "The Cat in the Hat Knows about That" are both kinda creepy. 

...wishes that she could have my make-up permanently affixed to her face to avoid putting it on every day.  Oh, am I also the only one who won't even leave the house unless she has her "face" on?

...goes through lists of things that start with each letter of the alphabet in order to fall asleep at night.

...would *love* for her house to look like a Pottery Barn catalog, but completely realizes that is just not going to happen right now.

...would still listen to cassette tapes if she had a tape deck in my car.

...is really & truly still afraid of the dark. 

... at age 13, had a somewhat-serious infatuation with "Hobie Buchannon" (Jeremy Jackson) & therefore watched Baywatch at every possible opportunity.

...does *not* like pumpkin flavored anything (with ONE exception--my mom's pumpkin gobs...hint, hint!).

...wishes she could go back & talk to her 17 year-old self.  {Sheesh, I'd have a LOT to talk to that girl about.}

....takes way too many digital pictures, because she knows the crappy ones can be deleted.

...has "Become a contestant on Jeopardy!" on her bucket list (pretty close to the top of the list too...).

So, what about you?  Are you wondering if you're the only one who.......?

If you tell my husband about this post, I will be forced to hunt you down...

Seriously.  I mean it.  I'm just *so* excited about my first fondant experience!  I feel like I need to shout it from the rooftops!  "I made something out of fondant!  And it looks.... okay!"

I'm making Tyler a Star Wars themed cake for his birthday.... it will go along nicely with his Star Wars themed gifts.  Both are surprises.  {Let's keep them that way, shall we?}  :o)  I got the crazy notion to *make* his cake instead of ordering it this year.  {It must be from some lingering post-partum hormones...}  

I've made cakes before... and since I'm aiming to impress, I decided to use fondant. For the first time.  Ever.  I've never even used the store-bought stuff.  Don't get me wrong though... I've watched those cake shows on TLC & the Food Network too many times to count, so I considered myself good-to-go.  Sure I could have used plain old regular icing... but fondant just looks so.... cool.  You can do so much with it.  It can be texturized, three-dimensional, and the recipe I had even tastes pretty good!   

I used this recipe for my fondant.  It took a LOT of kneading and even more powdered sugar.  {Seriously, I think I must have breathed in about a half cup of the stuff just mixing everything up!}  I got food coloring gels from Mary's Cakes & Candies.  I was determined to make a little Yoda to sit on the cake. 
 Here's the final product! 

Yes, I know... he has a bit of a pig nose.  I told you... it's my first fondant creation.

He's a little wee bit more *portly* than the "traditional" Yoda. 

{Even celebrities gain a few pounds, y'know.}

 I'm very proud of his little cape--complete with a hood!

 Check out those little Jedi toes....

I ♥ how his light saber turned out! 

However, I learned that wrinkles are very hard things to create when using fondant.

And this is where he's staying... inside a powdered-sugar-coated storage container... in a cool, dry place.

Now I'm just incredibly anxious to make the actual cake!  More pictures to come!