Scrap Room Redo

 I fell in love with this print from Keep Calm Gallery. I ignored the fact that it cost way too much and the shipping from England was atrocious. I just ordered it, and pretended that the cost in pounds was the cost in dollars.
I intended it to be in our entryway, but to do that would mean that I had to redo everything else in the entryway. So I gave up on that idea because all of my redoing money had already gone to the print itself, and decided to build my scraproom around it. Because our office/scraproom is right off the entry, I thought that it should have a more office look. You know, we want people to come in and think we are smart folks who sit around and do officious stuff all day. Is officious even a word?
Anyhow, I had the print framed, stuck it in the middle of the big office wall and went to town redoing the bookshelves. I still have a few details to work on, like putting metal labels on my magazine holders, but I'm pretty happy with it. Now I just need to finish the rest of the room!

This is the view from the entryway. That little hint of red is Anna's desk, which will be painted soon. I'm thinking chalkboard paint.

I typed up all the labels.

These jars were left over from the old decor, and I just filled them with extras I had laying around.

Easy Baking

Don't you remember how great those Easy Bake Oven cakes smelled? And didn't it just tick you off that you could only cook one at a time. But you savored those cakes like they were the best in the world.
Or was that only me?

Won't You Come Out Tonight....

I should have known not to title this layout Buffalo Gal. Because now every time I see it or think about it or post it online, I sing that song....
Buffalo gal, won't you come out tonight...
And honestly, I don't even know if it's a song. I might just be making it up. I tend to do that. And since those are the only words that I know to this "song," it probably only exists in my head.
Anyways, it's a pretty catchy song.

And yes, I know there's a shadow and the picture is grainy. But I'm too lazy to take another picture because it's cold outside. So deal with it! :)

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

I watched The Wizard of Oz for the first time in years a week or so ago. I hadn't thought about that movie in forever.

And then 5 days ago I watched a show that I just randomly stopped on. The main character's ring tones were songs from The Wizard of Oz.
And then 4 days ago Robert came home with a book titled The Oz Effect.
And 3 days ago I ran across a blog post about Dorothy.
And 2 days ago I watched Fringe and in the end scene, the Scarecrow's and Cowardly Lion's songs were playing in the background.
And yesterday.....I happened to stop on a movie called The Majestic. I had never heard of it, but it was the only thing starting at the exact moment that I sat down to eat lunch. And what song happened to be playing in the background of the bar that the character was at? Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Coincidence? Maybe.
The universe trying to tell me something? Maybe.
Should I run right out and buy me some sparkly red high heels? Definitely.

That's what she said

A while back I made this little album of sorts to have a place to record all the hilarious things that Anna says that I don't want to forget. I sewed cute digital papers together to make pockets and stuck them all on a ring. I then printed "She said" journaling spots to the correct size (which took way too many tries!), and stuck them inside just waiting for the stories.
It's getting full now and I'm going to have to make lots more pages!

The Big Red Ball

My parents got Anna a big blow up ball for Christmas. It's one of those that you get inside, then have someone push you down a hill. She loved it. She froze to death doing it, but she did not want to stop.

Can you tell she's freezing?

There was just a bit of static electricity going on. :)

Waiting...

When we first moved here, and it was just me and Anna all day everyday, we got bored. So bored. And waiting for Daddy was like a little ritual.

Knowledge is Power!

I was thinking about schools today, trying to decide if I'm going to go on the hunt for a new one for Anna because this one seems more like a day care than a school. Don't get me wrong, I love her teachers and she likes going to school. But I feel like we need to move past shapes and colors. She's known those for 2 years now. She needs more. She keeps telling me she's bored.

Anyways, thinking about school made me think about School House Rocks. Remember those songs? I have the entire anniversary edition dvd's. I think I'll play them all today.

If only I had listened to the math ones more often, I'd be able to count without using my fingers......

As your body grows bigger
Your mind grows flowered
It's great to learn
Cause knowledge is power!

It's Schoolhouse Rocky
That chip off the block
Of your favorite schoolhouse

Schoolhouse Rock!

Sweet

 

She wouldn't have dared shared that chocolate milkshake with me. But, sure, dad, you can have some.

I'm not sure what was up with the dark circles under her eyes. I swear she sleeps.

I don't understand

See that big beautiful dollhouse? The one that has hand dyed shingles and individually painted rooms and wood floors. The one with working windows and doors that sits on a custom made storage box with grass in the yard?

Now, see my mom's little rusted out dollhouse that is sitting on a towel so the metal edges don't scrap the paint off my bench? See it right behind Anna?

Explain to me why she is putting all the dollhouse furniture in there. Taking it out of the house that Santa's elf (aka daddy) slaved over for 3 months.

And remind me of this next year at Christmas when we get a bright idea for her presents. Remind me to just go into the closet, find something we already own, and put a bow on it.

Little Red

I was flipping through the pages of the Scrapbook Trends magazine a couple of months ago and stopped short when I saw a piece of paper with the story of  Little Red Riding Hood printed on it.
I HAD TO HAVE IT.
I mean, Anna was going to be Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. So I seriously needed it!
I searched around and discovered that is a no-longer-in-print paper by Studio Calico. I shed a little tear.
But then I posted on the message board at SC that I seriously needed that paper and would buy it from someone and a lovely lady sent it to me for free! (I did give her a gc as a way of thanks.)
What wonderful people these scrappers are!

 

The picture does not do this layout justice. Something about cloudy weather and red just don't work well together in a phootgraph!

Your Baby CanNOT Read

Disclaimer - I do not have a degree in toddler learning specialties.
                   I am not an expert.
                   I do not own a Your Baby Can Read program.
                   This is just my humble opinion. (but i am right.)
In the past couple of months I have heard nonstop about how wonderful the Your Baby Can Read program is. I've seen the videos, but never sat through an entire one, nor have I ever forced Anna to sit down and watch it, or do flashcards or anything else of that nature. We do flashcards, we do practice writing, and we do simple math with her paper cups while she's brushing her teeth. But I have never forced her to "learn" anything that she wasn't interested in or didn't think was fun.

Now, on to my problem with YBCR. This program, to my understanding puts the word on the screen, then flashes a picture of that word. This leads your baby, who is strapped in a bouncy chair or some other device to keep them still, to memorize that word.
Babies do not see it as a word, they see it as a picture, a shape, just the same as a triangle or balloon.
Babies don't learn that a word is made up of individual letters and sounds.
Your baby is not reading. If your baby manages to memorize those words after countless hours of sitting in front of the tv, he is repeating memorized information. NOT READING. So stop telling me that your baby will be able to read in 6 months. He won't. I promise.
And memorizing those however many words that are on the screen will not make your kid smarter in school. It might make reading a book easier, because he won't have to take the time to sound out those words, but it's not going to make him smarter.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I'll stick to the old fashioned way of actually teaching my kid something instead of relying on the latest fad to babysit my child while justifying it by saying she's learning to read.

And if you don't believe me, try reading some of these articles before wasting your money.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39953918/ns/today-money/
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=569
http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=11716965

ABC & 123

Anna has known her alphabet and numbers 1-15 (pronounced five-teen) for quite some time now. Almost a year, I'd guess. And for probably 6 months she's been interested in writing. I tried to start it with her once, but she still didn't have the coordination to pull it off and it would just frustrate her. So we put it on the back burner and started up again a couple of months ago. I'm proud to say that before she turned 3 she could write her name - just her first name, and it's only 2 letters, but still.

As of yesterday, she's decided that she likes the look of little p's better than little a's, so she is now spelling her name Annp. And we must call her by her first and middle name - but backwards.
James Anna is an odd little girl!

Speech is relative

So today, Anna had her speech evaluation. She did great - answered all the questions, looked cute, and made the therapists believe she was just this sweet little thing who never does anything wrong.
She's going to be an actress one day. Well, a paid one. Because she's already a little actress.
On the way home we were talking about some of the questions she had to answer. I asked her -
"What were those things you had to count? You did really good."
"Tars."
"Huh?"
"Tars."
"Oh, cars."
"No, tars. You know silly, those things that are in the sky at night."
"OH, stars!"

"Yep.... Maybe you need to go to speech instead of me. Because I knew what I was saying" she mumbled under her breath.

Another two...

I hate doing layouts for actual celebrations and holidays. I mean, hate them. Maybe it's because I'm supposed to be fitting an entire day's worth of memories in one spot. Or maybe it's the pressure of getting it all right. Or maybe it's the fact that on that day, I'm too busy enjoying the day to really get great pictures. Either way, I hate it. But I forced myself to finish up Anna's birthday layout and I'm not too terribly unhappy with it.

Me, Anna, my dad, and my paternal grandmother all in one picture. Seemed like something to document.

One Little Word

Last year I joined in on Ali Edwards' idea of picking one word to focus on throughout the year. My word last year was "change" and boy did pretty much everything change.
This year my word is "simplify." I want less stuff - on our walls, in our drawers, and on our minds. I want easier ways to do things -cleaning, cooking, and teaching Anna. I want to get rid of the extra so I can focus on the important things.

I've joined in on the One Little Word class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. It's never too late to join in, so think about your word for the year and join me!

Not much, but something

I'm just lagging behind on everything I need to get done. November/December pictures haven't been ordered. My favorite print that I ordered is still sitting in it's tube waiting to be framed and hung. I haven't even bothered with New Year's Resolutions, because really, if I can't get last year's stuff done, why bother with this year's?
I'm blaming my non-productive days on Anna. If school ever starts again, I'll be a happy camper. And so will she. There's only so many times you can play the same games and put together the same puzzles before you go crazy. Believe me, I know. I'm getting there.
Believe it or not, I have three layouts that I was able to do sometime before Christmas, but just now got around to photographing. So here's one for you, just to prove that I have done something in the last two months.
Not much, but something.