Ikea and other things...

It was an Ikea day today. We have been planning on going for about a year. And finally, we went. We were really looking for some organizational stuff and for an armoire type thing for our TV. We were not successful looking for the latter, but we did get some organizational stuff, some magnetic boards (I've been wanting some for ages), an area rug (WAY on sale!), shelving and a table top for Matt's office, some Christmas presents for Autumn, and some pretty ornaments.

I also finished a big project today that's been in the works for the last couple of months. (Definitely the biggest scrapping project I've ever completed.) Hopefully it will be a hit. Should know soon. :-)

Our house is stuck somewhere in the middle between fall and Christmas decor. Since we're not doing Thanksgiving here it's kind of confused.

Teeth

Autumn's molars are really bothering her. She's been running a mild temp the last couple days and wants to be cuddled lots. One molar is through in the back. And it's sharp--when I tried to feel it, she chomped down on my finger and left a mark. The rest of her gums are all swollen and angry looking. Poor girl. :-(

Update on Autumn

• She's a big girl! At her last Dr.'s appointment she came in in the 95th percentile in height and just above the 50th percentile in weight. She's not a very big eater. It's kind of funny though, 'cause it looks like we might have a tall one on our hands. Guess she must have gotten my family's genes there. ;-)
• She talks NON-STOP. Most of the time it's still just babbling, but it never stops. She talks to all of her toys in this funny high-pitched voice that she uses just for them. (Sometimes when I put her down for a nap, I'll hear her in there talking and playing happily for HOURS.) She "reads" all of her books in another funny voice that is reserved just for books. And then she talks to us...a lot! It's gotten to the point where she's learning a new word at least every day. Yesterday was "shoes"--she loves the "zzzz" sound at the end of the word, so it's more like "shooozzzzzzzzz"hen she says it, but it's still very easy to understand. (She loves playing with them, so it's really not surprising that she figured out how to say it.) She says "outside" now, and she's also attempted repeating "I love you," but she can't quite manage getting all the sounds in the right places. If Matt or I make any sound at her, she tries to repeat it--it can be very amusing.
• She still sucks her thumb and rubs her belly button or her ear (depending on which thumb she is sucking) a lot of the time, especially when sleepy. We can no longer put her in onsies and actually fasten the snaps on the bottom, because she has to be able to pull up her shirt to get to her belly button or she gets really mad.
• She is incredibly destructive--nothing is safe! And the house can't be kept neat unless she's out of it. Lately she just wants to get out everything and spread it around, so there isn't any floor showing through the mess. Maybe it's her way of getting back at me for removing all the carpet and making the floors slippery.
• She loves music. And she's figured out how to turn on the TV and the DVD/CD stereo. She'll get the music going and just bop all over the living room. (We need to get an entertainment center to get everything out of her reach. )
• She loves her daddy! One of her favorite times of the day is when Matt gets home from work. She greets him at the door with squeals of delight and just can't wait till he changes and plays with her. She loves to "wrestle" on the floor--which means basically that she throws herself at him in WWE-style bodyslams over and over again.

Sitting here with my english muffin and a cup of hot chocolate that replaced my coffee this morning (it's that kind of day). Overwhelmed with how many things there are to do today. But they're mostly nice things. Like planning when to have a Memory Works open house. How I'm going to decorate for Christmas. Pondering either block painting some canvases or creating a series of collages to go along the top part of the side wall in the living room (I've never done either before). Contemplating teaching a mini-class at my cropping group next month. Lots and lots of scrapbooking to finish. Christmas presents to make. Thanksgiving presents to make (my family). Figuring out what to use my Michael's 50% off coupon on (I think I want a Cropadile). Thinking about applying for two new design teams in the works. Need to make a list of things to take to NC for Thanksgiving. Need to figure out when and where to take photos for our Christmas cards (which I am, once again, not making this year). Oh, and trying to figure out how I look as a redhed.

Well, not really. Just got the red highlights back in again after a year. Except there are more of them. And they're redder. But I LOVE my haircut. :)

Yesterday: got caught up on kitchen chores, got my hair done, got presents for the two people we have in our Thanksgiving name exchange, bought Jenn's bday gift, ran errands, got two more projects upoaded to sassacraft, bought a (cheap, temporary) rug for the dining room, planted all the rest of the iris and elephant ears, and went out for lunch.

I'd better go since Autumn will be up soon and I need to get at least one thing done first, so the morning won't be a total wash. Oh, I don't know if I mentioned it here, but I've got an Etsy shop now. Though there's not much in it at the moment. I will be listing some gift card holders sometime soon. If I get some decent pictures ever.

See Matt's blog for our opinions on the election. He words it a little stronger than I would, but yeah, we're pretty much in agreement over the whole thing.

Anyway, I'm up again (as I have been all week) at a ridiculously early hour 5:00 ICK! I think I'm going to try to get a little more sleep in a couple minutes, but wanted to give a quick update.

The living and dining rooms are completely painted! YAY! This has only taken me about forever, but I'm very pleased with the results. And all the carpet from the rooms is up and out of the house. Thankfully. It was nasty! And the floors really really make the house look better. (Except for one spot, but I can live with that.)

Thinking about Christmas stuff already. I can't wait to start decorating. We're planning on going with an actual theme this year and using all retro-looking red and silver stuff. Should be fun. I just bought two pounds of glitter. In case you don't know, two pounds of glitter is a whole stinkin' lot! Going to use it to make ornaments, etc.

Trying to get myself organized and figure out how to start selling Memory Works products. I'm very excited about them, but mostly just because I want to use them myself. ;-) They really have nice stuff. You can check out my other blog for all the stuff I just bought. The BG Fruitcake line is great! I want to do an open house and I would like to do it before Christmas, but I just don't know when we'll fit it in. Hmmmmm.....

Autumn's talking more and more all the time now. She uses a few phrases and quite a few words. Of course, most of the phrases are only recognizable if you're spending a LOT of time with her. The two new words yesterday were "bath" and "outside". Clear as a bell. And then she wanted to say bath over and over as I was putting her in the bath and outside while she pointed out the window.

She loves making us happy. She's also really getting into "helping" with things. She loves to put the wet clothes in the dryer as I hand them to her and then to close the door. Last night she had to clean up the floor where she spilled some milk (on purpose) and then proceeded to wander all around the room wiping up invisible "spills" from the floor. And she's always walking up to me and giving me things that she knows she shouldn't have so that I can put them away. Things like coins or my stamps or things like that.

Oh, and she loves Reagan's kennel. When we're out in the breezeway for any reason, she follows us out and then climbs in the kennel and drags all her toys in there. So when I let Reagan in at night, I always have to take out a bunch of toys before she can get in.

Okay, time to try to go back to sleep.

A Little Republican