If I'm not at home, I'm at the doctor's office!

We've been 8 times in the last month. Yes, eight times! And we both have an appointment next Monday - OB for me, 6-month checkup for Nate. Then hopefully we can stay away from there for a while. It's getting ridiculous, especially since it's a 30-minute drive each way. (Did you know you can write off your travel expenses to and from the doctor's office on your taxes? Too bad we don't itemize!)

Other than that, it's been a SUPER busy week, and we're all fighting lingering colds, but still going to bed late. Maybe going to bed at a decent hour should be one of my new years resolutions. (As I type this, it's 1:41am.)

We got our family pictures done at Target earlier this week, and the small versions are available online already. I just HAD to change my picture at the top, even though it doesn't really fill the title bar...

A friend keeps turning me on to all the crafting blogs, and I continue to be inspired with new ideas! Unfortunately, it has caused my wallet to shrink substantially in the last couple weeks. I'm afraid to add up my receipts from JoAnns and Hobby Lobby because of the guilt I will inevitably feel. My current projects are:

* working on the basement. Actually, this is a joint project - Brian's doing all the manual labor, I'm doing the decorating. :) We rent a town home with an unfinished basement that is big, over 400 square feet. It's just a big open room, and we're trying to make it livable without actually finishing it off. So far we've gotten old carpet and puzzle foam flooring to cover the cement floor, which has turned out pretty well. Today I finally stopped procrastinating and bought some home decorator fabric to put up on the concrete walls. The Scotch double-sided foam tape works really well, and we'll be putting some tacks at the top to keep the fabric in place. So far we've used 13 yards, and we probably need another 18-20 yards to finish. Before and after pictures will definitely come once we're done!

* felt farm. We have a small corner of the basement as the designated "play area," and I spent all evening working on a 4'x4' felt square on the wall, decorated like a farm. I've got the whole background done, and just need to cut out some animals now. Obviously Nate isn't old enough to play with it yet, but he'll grow into it!

* Mod Podge. When I worked at Hobby Lobby I remember people buying it and never really knowing what it's for. It's basically a kind of glue that also works as a sealer on craft projects. It works really well. In fact, the picture at the bottom of this post is a gift I made for a relative for Christmas that used paint, paper, wood, and Mod Podge. It was time consuming, but easy at the same time. (I can't say who it's for in case a family stumbles across this post! but I'm pretty sure none of them read my blog...)

* anything and everything scrapbooking/papercrafting. I got my Christmas present early (a Cricut Expression!!! My husband is the best.) and have been playing around with it the last couple days. It is awesome - I have two cartridges to go with it, and basically, you plug one in, select a shape and size, and it cuts it out for you automatically. It cuts from 1/4 inch to 12 inches. I've already designed upcoming baby's birth announcements, but this will make it SO much easier. Once I actually FINISH a project I will put up a picture.

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Sorry it's all craft stuff, again. I have it on the brain lately.

gift for family member - sorry for the poor quality! taken with my webcam
since I still can't figure out how to get my computer to recognize Brian's camera
and sadly, mine broke.