The Adventures of Miss Scarlett Claus

Happy Holidays

After what seemed like a lifetime of co arsing my nearly two year old, these pics resulted. It was time for her free birthday 8x10, so at least it was free. Hope you are all getting a great jump start to your holiday season. We send our love.

Big deals on black friday

I am debating back and forth as to whether I can afford to go down there in a few hours, but these are the big worthwhile deals I have found at Target:

Magna doodle $10

Full size bath towels $3 each

Two in one stick-vac handheld vacum/broom $10

I was hoping they would have an artifical tree at the $50 price mark, but I read the review on the one they had and apparently it falls over when decorated, which just won't work. ::sigh::

More Gratitude give me

At this very moment a thought occurred to me of all the things I am grateful for. I am grateful for my Husband who works so hard to take care of us, and loves us more than one could measure. I am extremely grateful for my daughter Scarlett who is so beautiful, and loving, and smart. She is just a sponge. I need to start taking her to church more so that she can soak up some spiritual knowledge as well. 

I think that having spiritual support is what gets us through the hard times, because when I don't have the spirit with me, life IS more than I can bear. I am not the strength, the Lord is my strength, which means that I am probably at my weakest right now. 

I am going to track down the lyrics to the song "more holiness give me" (particularly the verse about gratitude) because I think it has the steps needed to get through the hard times, and find strength from the Lord to overcome adversity.

More Holiness Give Me

By Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876)

More holiness give me,
More strivings within,
More patience in suff’ring,
More sorrow for sin,
More faith in my Savior,
More sense of his care,
More joy in his service,
More purpose in prayer.

More gratitude give me,
More trust in the Lord,
More pride in his glory,
More hope in his word,
More tears for his sorrows,
More pain at his grief,
More meekness in trial,
More praise for relief.

More purity give me,
More strength to o’ercome,
More freedom from earthstains,
More longing for home.
More fit for the kingdom,
More used would I be,
More blessed and holy—
More, Savior, like thee.

Fun times

Today was an eventfully fun day.

Scarlett and I met up with my dear friend Malia. She lives in this really cool house down a paved country lane right smack dab in the middle of the end of town I grew up in. (Until today, I had no idea this little speck int he world existed) There are chickens everywhere, just walking loose in peoples front yards. There is a GIGANTIC bull fenced into the neighbor's yard across the street, and I was informed that up the lane one of the neighbors has a ZEBRA! Forget the zoo, we'll take E(rest of street name here) lane :) (I googled to find the pictures of the stores and animal, but there was a chicken out there that looked just like this one!)

Upon arrival we were situated with some juice, and Scarlett had some banana and then we were ready to head off on our thrift outing. First stop was D.I.. Malia helped me to see all that I had been missing there. Before leaving the house she showed me lots of neat things she had purchased here, so I was a lot more open minded about the store than I had been previously.

For those of you who do not live in AZ, or in other densely Mormon populated areas, DI stands for Deseret Industries, and is a thrift store owned by the Church. Members can donate their lightly used items to Deseret to later be resold in their stores. As a kid we always donated there, so out of principal I had not wanted to shop there (and find my own stuff).. but I have moved past this way of thinking now.

Then we headed over to Mesa Thrift. Malia of course had her son, Mr. P with us. He is 2 and a half. Both Scarlett and Mr. P had their reservations about one another at meeting, but by the end of the afternoon they were thick as thieves.

<- this is Mr. P. in a picture frame we found. Scarlett was sitting right across from him and they looked like mirror images of each other...it was super cute, but it took me too long to find my camera in my bottomless bag, so you will have to use your imagination.

<-This is a picture of Scarlett and Mr P. playing inside a desk turned sideways. They used it as a makeshift playhouse. You can see Scarlett behind Mr. P, trying to get her bearings.

Good times were had; fun treasures found and purchased at great bargain prices.

<-Mr. P is such a sweet boy.

Approximately 3 hours after leaving the house, we made a pit stop at Del Taco on our way back to E lane. We ate our lunch, and Scarlett got acquainted with Malia's two sweet doggies, Stinky and (insert other dog's name here). Scarlett really liked Stinky. He is a very sweet boy dog (they think part pit bull part boxer maybe). Scarlett liked to watch me pet him, and liked to look at him from a safe distance.

We cannot wait until our next adventure on E lane.

Then this evening, Joe let me escape off to see Twilight with my sister Wendy. Wendy nor I read the books, so we felt we were perfect company for one another in seeing the film. We both very much enjoyed it, with no preconceived notions or expectations. I am just proof that you don't have to have read the books to enjoy a good love story.

It is nearly two AM, so I am going to again attempt to go to sleep. Sending my love out to you, my readers.

I did the unthinkable

Okay, so I know in life there are many faux pa's, do's and don'ts in "acceptable society". One of these I know I broke this evening. Any of you who have spent much time with me know, that I have just been itching to cut my hair off. So tonight, knowing I have no money in my pocket to pay someone to do it, decided to take matters into my own hands, LITERALLY. I not only cut my bangs, but my entire head of hair, and honestly I am pretty satisfied with it. I may shorten it up a little more, as I was looking at some of my past short cuts that I really enjoyed, and some of them were shorter than this.

 

Let me know what you think. I have more pics if you didnt get a good enough look.

8 tag

8 favorite shows....
Greys Anatomy
House

ANTM
Ugly Betty
stylista
Tabithas Salon Takeover

sheer genius

mentalist

8 things i did yesterday
Had my Visiting teachers & home teacher over
Drove out to Mesa
Had lunch with my mom and sarah for my moms bday
Drove home to Chandler
took a nap while Scarlett took a nap
worked on my blog/scrapblog
cared for myfarm on myspace
Put scooby to bed

8 things to look forward to....
Scarlett's first day of Kindergarten
our second baby some day
Our Anniversary
My birthday
Scarlett's Birthday
Christmas
being rich some day
Turkey Dinner tomorrow.

8 favorite restaurants....
BJ's
YC's
Cheesecake factory

Olive Garden
Baja Fresh
Islands
Chili's
Pei Wei

8 things on my wish list.....
financial security
a new tv
a new camera
monthly pedicures
invisalign retainers (i know it sounds dorky)
to be skinny, at least once in my daughter's lifetime
a brand new red car
for my husband to be skinny so he can be happy. (I like him the way he is)

8 people to tag...
Wendy

Sarah

Mom of 3 (kim)

Kimmy

Camille

Nikki W

Nikki Shumway

Samantha Ware

A fun week

click on the image to view larger. 

made on scrapblog.com.

classy couches

So, I was looking at the picture in the AZ Republic the other week, of Bush and Obama sitting in the oval office, and there was something familiar about those couches. They have MY COUCHES (or at least the same maker) in the OVAL OFFICE! :) Here is a picture I found online of the oval office, and I'll also put pics of my couches so you can see they are the same. Funny, huh?

Of course it is a lot darker in my living room, but still, a funny coincidence! 

today

Christmas Survey

So this was a forward quiz sent to me by Taryn, and I decided it would make a better blog, because I hate to send forwards. Enjoy it, and if it sounds like fun, feel free to do this on your blog too! :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?  I have to admit that I think gift bags are one of the greatest inventions on earth, and then I have to say that I highly reccomend buying them at your dollar store or 99cents only stores, as you can pick up even large ones for like 59cents to a dollar, which is SUPER. However I have to say that for Christmas presents, nothing is quite like paper, to rip off as fast as you can, and make you feel like a kid again. Just don't tape the paper to the box!

  
2. Real tree or Artificial? Growing up, we had a fake Christmas tree that was actually older than I was. We had the same tree until I was like 15. It was about 5.5 feet tall, and my mom used to put it on top of her food storage boxes to make it taller, and of course covered the boxes with the tree skirt, so you couldnt tell. Then they got the wonderful 8 foot tree that they have now, which really looks real. But, it was not until I got married that I had my very first REAL Christmas tree. It was so beautiful. I was insistent on getting it all set up Before i had the baby (Scarlett was due date december 10). By christmas the tree was crispy and dead, and probably a total fire hazard, but it smelled WONDERFUL. Every morning I woke up thinking I was in a forest. That strong smell of fresh pine was so great. Of course I was pregnant so my sense of smell was magnified. Last year we got a real tree, too. However, this year I am not sure whether I will break down and buy a fake tree; We will probably get a real one just because we don't have the storage space for it after the holiday. 

3. When do you put up the tree? Any time after Thanksgiving, I feel is fair game, though, if I had an artificial tree, I would be tempted to put it up sooner just because it was already within my reach.

 

4. When do you take the tree down? HaHa! I am the worst at getting the tree out of my house, because I always need Joe to do it, and he is such a busy guy, so I hate to pester him to help me get it out. But again, ideally, no later than mid-january is acceptable.  

 

 5. Do you like eggnog? gotta say, no on this one.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?    A karaoke machine

7.  Hardest person to buy for?   I am pretty good at shopping for everyone, but some people I have to just get them gift cards, because doing their own shopping is what they love most.

8.  Easiest person to buy for?    Me, haha.

 

9.  Do you have a nativity scene?   yes, a few actually.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Post for sure.

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received?   I am easy to shop for, it is almost impossible to buy me something I won't like if you actually know me.

 

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?   Charlie Brown's Christmas, of course. It is a tradition, that and The original How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

 

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?  whenever I see something I think someone will like. Ive been known to start shopping 6 mos in advance, and then just tuck things in the closet.

  
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Isnt that what the White Elephant is all about?

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?   Candy Canes

16. Lights on the tree? Of course! I usually do white lights, because my mom always has lately, and she usually gives me her hand me downs.(yes, even christmas decorations)

  
17. Favorite Christmas song? I heard the bells on Christmas day.

 

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home?    This is the first year I have considered not being home for Christmas, because we have been thinking about visiting Joe's parents in Utah. I have never seen a white christmas, and am hoping to do that one of these years.

  
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's?  yes

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?   One gift on christmas eve, the rest on christmas day.

22.  Most annoying thing about this time of the year?   Rude people in stores. Come on people, have you forgotten that this is supposed to be a HAPPY HOLIDAY?!!?

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?   True Red, and lime green, mod style. Check out my christmas decor from last year post.

  
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?   Nachos and mexican food for Christmas eve dinner. 

  
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?  I'm not really sure, besides my new calendar. Joe says he already has all my presents figured out, and I am very curious what they are.

 

26. Who is most likely to respond to this?   not sure...

27. Who is least likely to respond to this?    everyone  :) ha, just kidding.

scrapblog

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M.I.A.?

There are no good reasons for my two days of blogging negligence. There are not-so-good reasons, though. My camera with recent pictures is dead. I need to charge it, but had left my charger in my car for the last couple of days. It is now in my purse, and sometime soon (hopefully this evening) I will re-unite the two so that we can have camera life. Until then, I don't have a whole lot of "exciting" to share. 

We have bought several DVD's this week. Among them are Sex in the City the movie, Juno, Backyardigans in Fairytale neighborhood, JOHN Q, Virgin Suicides(which I havent seen yet), and Sexy Beast (Joe's pick, which we haven't seen yet either). We plan to stay home watching videos every evening this week.

However, I do have a spotlight. My wonderful Mom is having a birthday this Thursday. (Actually it is not only my mom's birthday, but my friends Mike, Jamie, and Jim's, but we are going to spotlight my mom, as she is the most important.) The picture to the left is of my mom, me in the middle, and my sister Sarah. This was at my other sister Wendy's birthday party in February of this year. 

My mom is one of the most wonderful people you will ever meet. I think almost all of you know her. She is so giving, loving, and compassionate. She is such a good Grandma, and is always picking up fun toys for the kids to play with at her house. Some people tell me I am a lot like her, and that makes me happy, because I have always thought my mom was a perfect person. If she doesn't get into Heaven, nobody will. 

I hope you have the best birthday ever, MOM. YOU DESERVE IT!

Taco Seasoning.

When you think of taco seasoning, you might think of adding it to ground beef to make tacos, but at our house, Joe loves to add it to just about everything, including:

Popcorn

Nacho Cheese

Spaghetti Sauce 

Chili

Soup

Roast beef

Guacamole

and the list goes on... and on some of the things it actually really makes it taste good. Other times, it just causes me some extremely bad heartburn. 

He is always so proud of himself when he shows me his newest creation.   I try to prove enthusiastic. 

Nobody wants to have "dashed" dreams.

A great day, and its only half over!

So my wonderful sister Wendy agreed to watch Scarlett for a few hours so that we could go see a movie this morning. We went and saw the new 007 just as we had planned to do last night. Scarlett had so much fun at Wendy's house, and was so heartbroken when it was time to go. We brought her home, gave her a drink, while she watched some "Patch", and then she walked into her room and let me put her in her crib.

Joe has been a little disappointed that since his return, Scarlett will not allow him to put her to bed. She just gets so upset and screams at the top of her lungs. I guess since I have done it every night while he was away, she has become accustomed to my routine goodnight. I carry her down the hall to her bed, while I talk about what a great day we had, and all of the things we did, and how much fun we had. Then I tell her that it is time to go to sleep, that Elmo, her care bears and raggedy anne and andy will stay with her while she sleeps, and that when she wakes up, I will come get her, and we will have even more fun tomorrow. She happily lets me put her soft cotton Gymboree blankets over her, and she has to have one to hold while she sucks her little thumb and happily closes her eyes. She sometimes rolls to her side to face the wall, and has practically fallen asleep before I can say my final goodnight, and close the door. (she has a blue backyardigans nightlight, so it isn't PITCH black in there, but dark enough.)

So anyway back to my day. Once Scarlett went down for her nap, I decided to check the status of our Glasses which we seem to have ordered DECADES ago from Zennioptical.com. It is THE CHEAPEST site for glasses, with frames starting at $8 a pair, which makes them worth the wait. The tracking information said they had arrived, so I decided to dash down to the mailbox (at the UPS store), to pick them up. To the right is a picture of me in my new glasses. Please refrain from telling me they look exactly like my old ones, because, THEY ARE DIFFERENT! And, I am reminded that brand new glasses provide such a wonderful sensation of clarity and newness to my world and surroundings.

Much to my surprise, our Checks finally arrived that I ordered, along with this really cute bracelet I bought at a jewelry party my Aunt Jolene held last month. 

When I opened the box, I realized that I did buy pretty girly checks, but when I showed them to Joe he was kind enough to say, "oh, nice. very good choice", since he knows that it took me over a month of shopping around for the best deals and a pattern on the checks that I thought I could stomach for the extended period of time it takes to run out(one of the patterns of the checks I put on this post, there are 3 others in the books). Joe is my perfect match. I love him so much. 

By the way, if you need to order checks, the cheapest deal i found was for first-time purchasers at www.bradfordexchangechecks.com. I paid 7.98 for two boxes of non-duplicate checks plus shipping. (however I would reccomend coughing up the extra couple dollars to upgrade shipping, if you dont want to wait FOREVER for them to come. 

The bracelet I bought is even better than I thought it was going to be, and feels like it was worth the money though I had in my mind talked myself out of it a few times. Here is a picture of it on my wrist.

Patch

One of the cutest things Scarlett has begun to say lately is "Patch"

Her favorite show has definitely become Mrs. Spider's Sunny Patch friends, or as she calls it, "Patch" on Noggin. When we are on our way home after a long day of out-and-about, I can get Scarlett calmly home with the promise of a "bub" and some "patch".

If I am watching something she doesnt like, she politely walks up to me, looks me in the face and nicely says "Patch?"

She now says "back" for backyardigans, but not without some coaching. We'll give her some time to develop more words, but really, I could not be happier that there is so much functional communication between us, and our nearly two year old. I love her so much. She has been such a great companion while Joe has been gone. She is one of my very best friends and favorite cuddles.

We are glad to have daddy back. We had to spend our last $30 on a transfer on his ticket as he wasn't scheduled to come home until tomorrow (he finished his work early, and missed us, so we decided it was worth the investment), so we are kind of landlocked until payday tomorrow. We are thinking to maybe go to the midnight "007:Quantum of Solace". My hubby is a HUGE Daniel Craig fan, especially for Layer cake, and then the Bond films. We'll see.

Love to you all. Hope you have had a fabulous week.

the past week

This first picture was on Saturday, the day before Joe left. We were on our way home from getting brunch, and we drove past a yard sale in our neighborhood where I spied these two Raggedy Anne and Andy dolls. I always wanted some when I was a kid, so I decided to live vicariously through Scarlett, and use them as decor in her room. As soon as we got them though, Scarlett immediately loved their little round faces and soft bodies, and has slept with them ever since. She is such a sweetie.

This second picture is from the other night, when Scarlett and I decided to go to Filibertos. 

The one over on Pecos and McQueen has a dine-in area. So we decided to go in, as their drive-thru, is always SOOO

 slow. Scarlett was crazy and of course per usual refused to sit on her bottom. She has been hearing "SIT DOWN" so much lately that she has decided to include it in her own daily vocabulary. She sits on the floor with some toys, and in a stern voice, adamantly says "SIT DOWN", and pats her hand on the floor to indicate where you should be sitting. When  you obey, it is very pleasing to her. When you don't she says "WHY?" 

Before we left for Filibertos, Scarlett put on another wonderful performance with her flashlight/microphone, only now she knows that it turns on and off, so it is a concert/light show. I am trying to get the silly video to upload, (fingers crossed it works this time)

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

For some reason, my favorite time to make new posts is just after Midnight. So here it is, 12:07 and I am sitting at my laptop, actually laying sprawled across my couch with my laptop ready to finally make a new post. Sorry, it has been a few days.

Our internet and cable was off for a couple days, which gave me the opportunity to realize how much I don't know how to live with out those things. One of the days, I didnt have a car, my phone or the internet or cable, and by the end of the day I was a nervous wreck! ha. I think I have an addiction to the basic conveniences of today.

Scarlett does too. Her day just does not feel complete without one or two rides in the car, and 2 or 3 episodes of TV shows of her choosing. Usually: Sesame Street, Yo Gabba Gabba, The Backyardigans, or Mrs. Spider's Sunny Patch friends (or pretty much any show that comes on Noggin) Scarlett loves to sing and dance in front of the TV.

So Joe is out of town again(This time he is in Las Vegas, doing a shoot for Isagenix for an upcoming video for a new product line) and after learning how to deal with him being gone (as he was just out of town for 6 days no more than a week ago), I think I am already doing exponentially better emotionally than the last time he went. I am able to stay here at the house, without fear of incident. I even got Scarlett all bathed and jammied before bed, and down at a fairly decent hour this evening. Joe will be gone until Thursday sometime. Until then, it's just me and Scooby.

We spent this afternoon at my Parent's house. We played a couple games of Scrabble. Jan won the first game, and I the second. I won the second game by LOTS because I used all my tiles on a double word with a triple letter score. My word was WALTZER. I was very impressed with myself. I do not think the play would have been possible had it not been for my sweet daughter deciding to give me a break and color at the table. For the majority of the two games, she was in my lap, pulling the tiles on and off of my tray, but she was in pretty good spirits for the bulk of the evening, so I have very little to complain about.

Money is tight until payday on Friday. If any of you feel like giving Scarlett and I a free meal this week, we won't turn you down. Or a free movie, or free daycare is always appreciated as well :) But I of course understand that there are those of you who have lives filled with important things to do, so I won't feel bad if my phone doesn't ring off the hook.

This week while Joe is gone I have set a few goals.
1- to do our laundry
2-to Clean out our Laundry room
3- to go to the GYM at least once, but better yet attempt to go more than once.

So a few weeks back, Joe signed us up for a GYM membership to 24hr Fitness. The problem is they only have daycare in the morning, and I am not a morning person. They also have classes at 9am every morning, but again, I am not a morning person. I have had pipe dreams of shifting Scarlett's sleep schedule to an earlier regimen, and getting up, and having all this energy and being super mom, but I haven't actually done anything to try to make it happen yet. Maybe one day soon though, I hope. Wish me luck, help again, is welcome.

Sending our love.

P.S.- 99.9FM is already playing their christmas music. I have already created a christmas music playlist, but have been waiting until the appropriate season to add it to my blog, do you think I can get away with it yet? Or do I have to wait until after Turkey day? please vote in comment form. THX.

tag

I know that picture tag has been going around, and nobody  has tagged me, but it looked like so much fun that I went ahead and did it.  You go to your pictures folder and pick the 3rd folder and the 3rd picture down, and then describe what it is of.

This is a picture of Scarlett driving her little car around the living room at our last apartment. We got this car from my cousin Rachel Chapell who gave it to us brand new in the box, because her son already had a car and didnt' need a second one. She is always so nice to think of us and give us things she doesn't need. 

I think Scarlett's Daddy must have gotten her dressed that morning, because I know I never put those two garments together to form an outfit. Of course there is stuff on the floor as I am no A+ housekeeper. You can also see the Huggies box. We buy the regular huggies, and I always have to look closely at the box to make sure it has the velcro that I like, as there is the blue kind and the white kind. (If you use the regular huggies you will know what I am talking about)

This picture is from mid June, and Scarlett's hair is a lot longer now. 

since nobody tagged me, I won't tag anyone else, but if you read this and want to do it, feel free :) I am an equal opportunity tagger :)

Saltines, Beefy Macaroni and Jack's tacos

Just a few foods of the gods are being spotlighted on this post, by our beautiful model, 

Scarlett Paige. 

Saltines, of course, have been her personal favorite since her very first attempts at sold foods, though she has gotten better ad holding them and not just smooshing them into crumbs in attempt to grasp them. She likes them even better when she can cuddle with her Daddy at the same time, who can blame the girl?! not me!

Scarlett loves to sit at the new table, and has decided that she no longer ever wishes to sit in her high chair again, so I have happily banished it to the laundry room. She did really well eating her Beefy Macaroni for dinner, except for the fact that she was covered from head 2 toe as an after result.

You may also notice that she appears to be holding onto a bucket. That is not really a bucket, but rather one of the handles on our new GARBAGE CAN. Yes, I finally broke down and bought a garbage can. I have fought doing this, because I hate how nasty and grungy the bottom of the can gets, and how unpleasant scouring it can be. But, I got a reasonably smaller one than my old one, so at least the bag has extra space and adequate strength so that spillage hopefully is minimal. Scarlett however, likes to remove the lid and use it as a toy, so we are still working on that. 

Much to our surprise, she is a fan of the Jacks Tacos. (from Jack in the Box of course) She doesnt feel the need to add hot sauce, which makes them quite tidy when she leaves them in the sleeve to eat. She was eating this one while in her favorite leaning position against the couch.

I love the way her eyes look when she wears blue.

Joe's useless iPhone applications

Okay, so this may just be a silly thing that amuses me. 

I am sure you are not surprised that silly things amuse me.

So, Joe uploaded this application for his iPhone, I will show you what it does in step by step photos... sorry they didn't turn out better, but hopefully you get the gist.

So upon opening the app, here is Joe holding his phone, with a closed Zippo on the screen.

(he is such a hottie)

Okay, so with a flick of the wrist, the zippo opens, as seen above^

he places his finger on the lighter, rubs it down, and poof!

its lit!

the flame responds to angle-ing the screen to the side, and also the flame flickers when you blow on the screen, though you cannot completely blow it out, you can flick your wrist again to close the lighter. Here is my handsome man, pretending to burn himself with his iPhone's useless application of a Zippo Lighter's flame. 

What a fun and silly thing to do after Midnight on a Thursday morning.

Of course, this is not to say that there are no good and useful applications for the wonderful iPhone, but this one, just doesn't happen to be one of them. 

Thank goodness for the useless, yet extremely entertaining.

Ledges

This is what you see when you walk in the front door. 

Here are a couple pictures of our kitchen.  I just got the mirror from Ikea. I bought it so that when I give haircuts in my kitchen they can see their hair without tracking hair down  my hallway. 

I got the red butterfly from the same antique mall that I got the family sign from that I talk about later in this post. We also love our water cooler per Sparkletts. It has locks on the hot and cold water so that Scarlett doesn't make a mess. You can kind of see our cool Pier 1 kitchen table that i got for $50 from craigslist. It is black with red distressing. We have enjoyed eating at the dinner table. It makes us feel more like a family and less like a grazing petting zoo, haha.

So I have to admit, I have spent quite a bit of time and thought into decorating the ledges in my house. First, I considered theme, then I considered color, and concept, and then after shopping around a little, the ideas transformed the concept dramatically, but I am pretty pleased with the outcome so far. 

This is the ledge overlooking our living room, between there and the kitchen. 

This is the ledge in our kitchen on the right side above the cabinets and refrigerator. I bought the Family sign, which says "Family is love and laughter", from Merchant Square, an antique mall here in Chandler. I bought the quotation marks and "&" symbol from Ross for less than $5 a piece, and the silver picture frame from the 99cent only store. The picture in the frame is from my "Dwell in Possibility" calendar. 

I also feel like I have not shown enough appreciation for the wonderful couches that Joe's boss gave us. They make our living room so comfortable, and warm. We are so grateful for the gift.

above is the arrangement we have above the loveseat which is pictured below. The sign in the middle says "All because two people fell in love"
We send our love. Hope you all got out there and voted today... I DID! 

peace, love, and Obama 2008

My condolences to the Obama Family

I just heard that Barack Obama's Grandmother, Madelyn, passed away this morning (cancer). She practically raised him, and so as you can imagine they were very close. I send out my thoughts and prayers to him and his family today. I would hope that no matter what side of the political spectrum you reside on you would do the same. We send our love and support in this time of sorrow. 

(a photo of Obama with his grandmother at his High School Graduation in Hawaii, 1979 photo from yahoo.com)

Also, I expect to hear that ALL OF YOU make it down to the polls tomorrow, and cast your votes. If you are undecided, my suggestion would definitely be to vote for Obama. He is a good man, and has a level head on his shoulders. God bless America.

Where's Joe?

I got several comments asking where exactly Joe had gone. He went out of town for work to Texas and will be back tomorrow evening. (a total of 6 days he will be gone). He is attending a workshop to get certified in a top of the line editing software, though I am not sure which one. 

I think he has had some fun while he is there with his boss, which is cool. We have definitely missed him. Scarlett asks for him every day.

The night before he left, Scarlett was in bed and we had just finished putting most of his stuff together for his trip, exhausted at 3 am. We were joking about why I don't post very many pictures of us on our blog, mostly just pictures of Scarlett. Then I took these pictures, and we just laughed and laughed. He said they would make a great post. 

We look like this

and this

and this

and this

but look at our beautiful baby! ^_^