What will YOU personalize?

Ok, I told you about my Christmas break BFF, Food.  We had a great vacation together!

Now..I'm seriously crushing on this new toy Santa brought me.  It is a Silhouette Cameo machine.  A cross between a printer and a cutter.  You have software (totally free, try it out!), that you create things in, then send them out to the cutter to cut.  Kinda like a Cricut, but you can use all your own fonts (I have a million!), or you can buy designs on their website for 99 cents or under.  (instead of $50 for Cricut cartridges with only one font or four designs!)

You can cut cardstock (to make little boxes and gift card holders or scrapbook titles), fabric (to decoupage, make cards with, or sew around), regular paper or scrapbook paper (unlimited ideas!), or my personal favorite?  Vinyl!  You can get all colors of repositionable (knew spell check would catch that one!) vinyl for your walls or doors, to make a vinyl chalkboard for your pantry, etc.  You can also get the permanent outdoor vinyl to make signs for your windows, car, or even cups and bowls that can go through the dishwasher!  I haven't been brave enough to try the permanent..I have to practice before I can commit to permanent vinyl.  We're still dating, after all. ; )


So..want to see a picture to help visualize?  Here are some little mailboxes I got from Target for a dollar each (they have them before every Valentine's Day if you need one!):

And..I'm still s.l.o.w.l.y working on the baby's room.  I found new lamp shades for some lamps I already had, found a great mirror 50% off, and made a minky dot sheet to match the bedding I got online.  I'm also nearly finished with some birdhouses I am painting and decoupaging to hang on the 'branch'..that branch that will stand in for a mobile.  Totally unreachable by little hands..unless they try to climb.  Hmm..that would be bad.  Must add that to my list of things to worry about.
Here are some pix of the unfinished room:

I "updated" them by adding fancy new polka-dotted knobs.  Easy!

The lamp is going on an end table over by the chair...that's not in the room yet!  No, I won't let baby fall off the changing table. ; )  ..and I'm making a changing pad cover since I moved it to the dark changing table.  I am thinking pale turquoise and white plaid. ; )

The bedding!  And the sheet I made ; )

All the birdhouses lined up in a row..ready to be hung!

My first monogrammed thing for him-a real commitment to his name! ; )

How they ended up (and you can not force a birdhouse to turn the way you like, FYI)

This is a wrought iron thing I found in Missouri-kind of a memo board.  The kids painted and made him a welcome sign!

And we moved Ethan's furniture down (but we are still waiting on his new PB furniture to show up!!  They tell us Friday now..)

I saw my doctor again last Thursday for an appointment and my glucose tolerance test.  I even took one of Mary Claire's little pokey things, 33 gauge needles, and alcohol pads to poke myself, since they use those razor blade cutters to slice your finger.  But they didn't even check my fasting blood sugar, just drew blood an hour after the nauseating drink.  I was slightly disappointed I didn't get to wield my own weapon. : (  I haven't heard back, but I'm sure it's fine unless they call.  He also said I've made it to ViABiLiTy, so that is a huge milestone for us. : )  He said if I can make it another 10 weeks, there is no difference in the long term outcome of the child.  I can do 10 more weeks. ; )

I'm also having another ultrasound at my next appointment to check on that placenta that was covering my cervix.  I'm praying it's moved up! It was covering the spot where they cut for a c-section, so it's a little dicey.  I really want him to be able to cut in the same spot, you know since I'll be wearing a bikini this summer.  HA!!  Not.


I had a really strong contraction (ok, a HUGE pain a couple inches above my belly button and a hard tummy all over) yesterday, so I came home and pushed water and rested.  I was up a lot yesterday running errands, but I usually don't start to contract till 27 weeks.  I will say..it was scary.  I was grocery shopping with Ethan, and got a little panicky.  It kept hurting, but after rest, it was totally gone.  Little less movement last night (he's normally SO active from 4-5am!), but today seems totally normal.  So that slow stuff?  Yep, gonna keep going slow!  It is just too early.  Gotta get 10 more weeks in, minimum. ; )


Yes, I'll make you a sticky piece of vinyl to stick on something (on a picture frame? little tin pail? clipboard? door? your laptop? notebook? mirror?)!  I figure it's easier to mail the vinyl ready to stick than mail a mailbox or something to you!  I'm not a pro, so it'll be a little border and a simple word (like on the mailboxes), on vinyl transfer paper ready to stick on.  I only have black and silver vinyl so far.


So, here we go!  Limited to the first five people, unless I am squishy and feel that everyone deserves their name on something.  heehee ; )  Let me know what word/name you want, and black or silver.  Happy early Valentine's Day! or Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. day!

ps-You can send me your mailing address at busymom3370@yahoo.com if I don't already have it. ; )